Things We Don't Bother To Learn
by Shortiethegiraffe
Summary: Vader was able to kill Palpatine and take over the Empire without getting burned on Mustafar. He was also able to retrieve Luke and Leia after they were born. Leia grew up on Coruscant, while Luke traveled with Vader around the galaxy, learning the Dark Side. When they are 16, Vader makes a decision that sets off a chain of events changing all their lives forever.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Leia's POV

"The Emperor and Prince will arrive at 4, so you are expected to attend dinner with them tonight."

I look over at Orion, my head guard, and give an over exaggerated sigh. "Can't Empire Day be next week, or month?" I leaned backwards over the back of the chair I was currently sitting on until I was upside down and able to see Orion. "I've been enjoying not having my every action scrutinized by those two killjoys."

Orion laughed and kneeled down so he was a bit more eye level "Sorry, but it is tomorrow and your father, your brother and you are expected to attend the ball. Your father wanted to arrive a day early to handle some business at the palace."

I gave another loud sigh. The last time I saw my father and brother was over two months ago, which in my opinion wasn't long enough. "I almost forgot about the ball."

"I didn't! It's going to be awesome! I already know the hiding spot for where we are all meeting up."

I sat up and glared at my best friend Zeth, who was currently lounging on my couch playing on his holopad. We were hanging out in my private suite so he felt comfortable enough to put his feet on the armrest.

"Well isn't that great." I say sarcastically "You and everyone else will be having fun in one of the palace's storage rooms while I have to hang with Emperor Gloom and his little clone in the ballroom with everyone's terrified parents."

Zeth turned his head towards me and smiled, "Oh you'll be fine. You've done it a hundred times before. Besides nobody will be able to stay in the hiding spot long." That is true. Whenever my father attends a ball, all the parents try to keep a closer eye on their kids to make sure they behave. Everybody wants to give my father a good impression, trying to gain his favor. Which was pointless because my father doesn't trust or favor anyone except maybe my brother Luke.

"How about after the ball the three of us can come back here and watch a movie. I can get Zeth security clearance to stay the night and we could order some food" Orion asks smiling at me.

I smile back. Orion always knew how to make me feel better. He has been my head of security since I was three and has practically raised me. Both he and Zeth know me better than anyone else in the galaxy. I met Zeth at a fundraiser when I was five.

_I enter the ballroom with the guard assigned to escort me around. All the other guests were quiet as they watched me enter the room. I paused at the door and starred back at them._

_This was my third event I have been to without my father or brother. The first was a parade where all I had to do was ride in a speeder and wave at citizens. The second was an opera that I fell asleep to in my private box. This is the first time I had to actually interact with people. I'm beyond terrified._

_I walk around the party for about three hours, unsuccessfully trying to avoid interacting with others. Senators and other elected officials would come up and introduce themselves to me and talk about all the great things they have accomplished while in office. They would then ask if my father has ever mentioned them. I would always give them the same answer, "no." Then they would frown and excuse themselves. After three hours of this I was ready to leave, but I know I can't for another two hours._

_I wish Luke was here, but I also don't. Luke and I have always been pretty close. We always told each other jokes and would play together, until lately. Until father started Luke's training; then Luke started to change. He is becoming more like father, cold._

_At some point, the guard who was supposed to be watching me disappeared. Probably to try to keep the other senators from pestering me._

_I walked over towards the dance area. I couldn't do any of the fancy dances that the adults did. But I enjoyed watching._

_Next thing I know I feel a mushy substance on the right side of my body. I look down to see a piece of cake with bright blue frosting smeared all the way down the side of my black dress. Everyone in the room goes silent. I can feel their eyes watching, waiting to see how I will react._

_I look up to see a boy a year or two older than I staring at me with a plate in his hands. He has dirty blond hair with hazel eyes. We stand there staring at each other for about a minute. Then he looks at his plate, my dress, then back at my face and says, "If it helps my case, I think it looks better this way."_

_We have been friends ever since._

"Sounds good. Zeth can you get permission from your mom?"

"Already on it!" he yelled back.

"Great. I'll go arrange that now. I suggest for the time being you get prepared for dinner." Orion said while leaving the room.

"What you don't think I look presentable like this?" I joke while referring to the leggings and tee-shirt I was currently wearing.

"Oh the outfits fine if you want to be disowned." Zeth jokes while getting up from his seat and moving towards me.

"That wouldn't be too bad." I grinned.

Zeth rolled his eyes and next thing I know I'm being tossed over his shoulder and carried to my closet. "What are you doing" I asked between giggles.

"Well you have to get ready somehow." He replied smugly.

"What you going to help me change and do my hair?"

"If that's what it takes." He said while putting me down on one of the chairs in my closet which was composed of two dressers, a vanity, a couch, a few chairs, a connecting bathroom and four mini closets with different types of clothes in each.

I laugh and challenge him, "I'd like to see you try."

Zeth looked at me for a second before saying quickly, "Challenge accepted" and running into one of my closets full of black dresses dedicated for when father visits.

"Wait!" I yelled after him still laughing "You have to do my hair first!"

Luke's POV

I saw the Imperial palace off in the distance. We weren't supposed to arrive for another two hours, but father didn't follow speed limits and decided to take a shortcut through a few planets atmospheres. This was illegal, but he never got in trouble. One of the perks of being Emperor of the galaxy.

"So how much trouble do you think Leia has caused since our last visit?" I ask.

"None if she knows what's good for her" he answers.

I watched as the palace comes closer and closer into view. I haven't seen Leia for two and a half months. Not that I saw her much when father and I were at the palace anyway. She was always gallivanting around the city or planning trouble in her room, while I was always training or meditating.

We are not very similar. From a young age I realized my importance to the galaxy as the heir to the empire, so I matured while I was still very small. It was necessary in order to learn how to use the Dark Side. Father would refuse to teach me if I misbehaved or acted childishly.

But Leia hasn't grown up yet. All she seems to do is party and sneak out of the palace. The guards are supposed to keep father posted of Leia's behavior, but often times Leia seems to be able to stop them. But both father and I are aware of her behavior, she doesn't change when we are around. It is also obvious when the three of us go to a ball or some other public gathering. The public and other diplomats act differently towards Leia than they do towards Father and I. They watch her like she is their entertainment, waiting to see what ridiculous shenanigan she will pull next. They treat her like an equal instead of the royalty she is. Citizens respects Father and me.

"Well last time we visited, she had snuck out about five times."

"I won't let that happen this time. It is time she start acting her age" he answered as he lands the ship. "Go to her room now and tell her we have arrived early; I will join you there in a short while. I have something important to tell her."

"May I ask what you are speaking to her about?" I asked.

"You will find out soon enough." I am about to leave when father stopped me and adds "Test your shields while you approach." I have recently been working on hiding my presence in training. Hiding from Leia will be a good test.

I nod and exit the ship. I head towards Leia's private quarters. As I am walking, I check all the guards' minds for any information regarding my sister's actions over the last few months. Like usual, there isn't much, they are all very oblivious, which is why Leia is able to get away with so much.

As I approach Leia's suite, I put up another shield so she won't be able to sense me coming. Leia and I have always had a very close connection when we are near each other. She can always feel my presence, the reason this is a good test of my skills.

I enter her suite into the living room area. As I open the door, my ears are blasted with loud music and two additional voice singing along and laughing. The noise is coming from her bedroom area. I enter the bedroom to discover the closet doors open. What I see next leaves me frozen in place.

Over by the vanity on the other side of the room is Leia sitting in a chair wearing a very revealing slip meant to go under a dress. Standing behind her is a boy with a comb in his right hand trying to brush through Leia's hair. Both were singing and dancing to the song.

Feeling uncomfortable, I take a step back so they can't see me. Next thing I know, they are up and dancing around the closet. The boy grabs Leia and swings her around, holding her close. It wasn't in a romantic way, but I was still angry that he felt it acceptable to grab my barely dressed sister who was laughing at his antics.

"WHAT IS THIS?"

I snap my head around to see Father standing behind me looking very angry. I turn back to Leia and the boy, who are both standing in the same spots. One of the boy's arms is wrapped around Leia's back, while the other hand had landed a bit farther south than it should be. They both stand there shell shocked for a few seconds before Leia quickly moves away from the boy, grabs a remote sitting on a table and turns off the music.

She turns back around to face father and I "Father, I thought you and Luke were arriving at four."

"So this is how you act while I am not here? Parading your body to boys while wearing little to no clothing." Father replied with a very angry tone. His eyes glaring at Leia.

Leia looks down at her body as if noticing for the first time how skimpy she is dressed. "No. Zeth was just trying to do my hair. I always do my hair and then get dressed. I didn't think a thing of it."

The boy, apparently Zeth, had at some point moved away from the center of the room and was hiding in the corner. He is looking at the ground terrified. 'Good' I think to myself. 'He should feel scared.'

Father doesn't pay any notice to Zeth, instead he continues to glare at Leia, who is still staring at the slip she was wearing. "I can tell. You really think this is appropriate behavior for a princess? When will you grow up Leia? I don't expect anything from you while I am away, except to behave. Then I come back to this."

I see Leia's eyes flash a moment with anger while staring at the ground. What is she angry about? Getting caught? What did she expect to happen?

Leia then looks up at Father. "I am sorry father, it will not happen again" she says with confidence in her voice. She is always able to do that. Stand up in front of father with her head high, even when he is at his angriest.

"It better not. I won't stand for this type of behavior anymore Leia. It's time for you to take some responsibility for yourself." With that Father storms out of the room.

I look over at Leia again. Her eyes were blazing with anger at the door Father just left through. Her head the whips around towards me. "What are you still doing here?" she snaps.

"I can be wherever I want Leia." I snap back.

She stands there glaring at me for about a minute. I ignore her and direct my attention to the boy in the corner "What do you think you were doing when I walked in here?" I demand from him.

"We were only joking around Your Grace. I didn't mean any harm to your sister."

"I'm sure you didn't" I say with sarcasm.

"Leave him alone Luke!" Leia yelled at me.

I give her a glare before shifting it to the boy again. "I will be watching you." I turn back to Leia "Be ready for dinner, Father has something important to share with you" I state before turning and leaving the room.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Leia's POV

I watch Luke march out of the room.

I can feel the tears in my eyes that I would not let fall. Not for Luke. Not for father. Neither one of them deserved my tears. I've cried for them more than enough times in my life.

My entire life has been nothing but heartbreak after heartbreak when it came to those two. Every time I see them they just find something to criticize about me; making judgments before listening to my side of the story. I was nothing but a disappointment in their eyes, a disappointment that they want to control, but I won't let them.

I feel Zeth come up next to me. I look at him, his face is full of worry and pity. He pulls me into a hug.

That is when I allow the tears to fall. Not because of father or Luke, but because of Zeth. Because of Orion. The only two people in the galaxy that truly care about me and have always been there when I needed them. _They_ were my family.

I hug Zeth back. His arms felt safe. Not in a romantic way, but in a brotherly, comforting way.

"Shhhh. It's okay." He whispers into my ear while lightly rubbing my back. I didn't answer, instead I just buried my head into his shoulder. We stayed like this until I am finished crying. "You wanna mess with some of the guards communicator signals?" He asked quietly.

I laugh, "No, I think I'm in enough trouble for today. I'll just go get ready for dinner."

He nods and follows me back to the vanity. I begin to work on putting my hair in a new braid I had learned from the princess of Alderaan. Zeth pulls up a chair next to me.

We don't say anything as I do my hair. Instead Zeth just watches as I mentally prepare myself for the upcoming dinner. I wonder what important news father is going to tell me. I have an idea of what it could be, but I hope I am wrong.

-at dinner-

I walk into the dining room. Luke is there already and is standing by his seat. I walk up to mine. The table was a long rectangle; Luke and I sat next to each other on one side, then father sat on the other side. We both stand there in a tense silence.

A few minutes later Father walks in and sits down in his seat. Luke and I quickly followed suit. Three waiters come out of the kitchen and place our meals in front of us, then leave.

The three of us start eating in silence. About halfway through my plate father says, "Leia stop eating so fast, its unladylike."

I mentally roll my eyes, 'There's always something' I think to myself. I reply "Sorry father" before slowly taking another bite of meat.

The room goes silent again. I contemplate asking about how their trip was, but quickly discard the idea. I know I won't get an answer other than 'It went fine.'

After a few minutes, father speaks again "As you two both know, the Empire Ball is tomorrow." Luke and I both nod our heads yes. Father continues, "Tomorrow I will also be making an announcement that effects Leia directly."

My stomach drops. I know what he is going to say next, my suspicions were correct. No, this can't be happening, not yet. I'm only sixteen for crying out loud! I am way too young. Well, I guess shouldn't be surprised. I've known this was going to happen since I was four.

Father continues, "The announcement will be of Leia's engagement."

I am quiet for a second before I ask, "May I ask to whom will I be marrying."

"I haven't decided yet. I've narrowed it down to a few options, but I will make my final decision at the ball tomorrow."

I sit there staring at my plate of half eaten food, not having the appetite to eat the rest. A pang of anger rushes through me. He decides to spring this news on me, yet hasn't even chosen my future husband yet! "When will you choose?"

"I will be talking to the boys parents tomorrow at the ball. Then I will observe their behavior and see which one is the best choice."

I nod, mentally making a note in my head to watch who father talks to tomorrow at the ball. "Do the boys know they are being considered?"

"Their parents probably told them."

"Do I get to know who you are choosing from?"

"I will tell you my decision at the ball."

I nod and excuse myself from the table. I go to my room and turn on a movie. I'm not really watching it, I just want some background noise while I think.

I knew this was coming eventually, that's why I never tried to be in a serious relationship with anyone. I dated a few guys over the last few years, but that was just for fun. We never did anything but hang out and have dinner a few times. Then I would end it before either of us developed any feelings. The farthest I have gone with one was kissing.

But being engaged to someone will be completely different. Sure it's arranged, but I still want to love my husband.

I hear someone knock at my door. Zeth had left before dinner, so it couldn't be him. I open the door to see Orion standing there. He looks at me and gives a sad smile "So I just heard the big news" he says "congratulations?"

I give him a small smile. "Yeah, I'm just jumping for joy in my head right now."

Orion has a container in his hand. He holds it up so I can see it better, it is a tub of my favorite ice cream. "I figured you would need a little pick-me-up" he says.

My smile grows bigger, "Yeah come on in, I just started a movie."

We sit down on my couch. Orion pulls out two spoons and we both dig into the ice cream, not bothering with bowls. We sit there, chat and joke with each other for a few hours. This isn't anything unusual, ever since I was seven this was our routine on my bad days. I could talk to Orion about anything. He was usually the first person I went to for advice.

After we finish our second movie, I ask Orion "What's it like being married."

Orion doesn't look surprised, he probably knew I was going to ask eventually. "It's great. Difficult, but if you love each other, it can be wonderful." Orion had married his wife Erisa about three years ago. I love Erisa, she is one of the kindest, most loving woman I have ever met. She even asked me to be a bridesmaid at the wedding because she knew how close Orion and I are.

"I'm nervous."

"That's normal. I'd be worried if you weren't."

"What if it turns out bad. What if he is cruel or crazy?"

"Well then I'll be there to straighten him out" Orion answers. He gives me a hug and says comfortingly "I won't let anyone hurt you. They will have to go through me first."

-the next day at the ball-

I enter the sitting room at the top of the stairs that leads into the ballroom. Father, Luke and I are to have a grand entrance into the ball, but that isn't for another hour. Guests haven't even started arrived yet. But I like to get to the room early to calm any nerves I have and relax.

I am currently wearing a black floorlength gown with my hair pinned up. If father and Luke weren't on the planet, I'd be wearing some bright color with my hair down in curls or a fun braid. It is just my little form of rebellion that father has never figured out. You think he would since I am frequently in the news wearing these dresses, but he never seems to know of it.

There isn't any windows in the room, so I can't see the ballroom yet. But I don't mind, I just like to listen to the party crew set up the last preparations, and hear all the guests enter. Sometimes I can hear children running around while their parents aren't looking.

I smile. I truly enjoy going to these parties. I love talking to the people and dancing with my friends. I frequently attended them by myself when father and Luke are away.

As time passes I can hear the ballroom become more and more crowded. Then about five minutes before our grand entrance, Luke arrives.

"You look nice tonight Leia" he says. This catches me by surprise. It is rare that I ever receive a compliment from Luke or father.

"Thank you."

"You seem nervous. Why?"

I look at him bewildered. 'Really' I think to myself.

"Maybe because I'm finding out who my future husband will be tonight."

"That is nothing to be nervous about."

"Easy for you to say, you get to pick your future bride," I say while adding in my head, 'whoever the unlucky girl will be.'

Luke glares, "Please, at least you don't have to go through the process of finding your spouse. I have to sift through all the immature ditzy idiots at these parties trying to find a girl at least somewhat suitable."

I glared back. "You know, I am friends with a lot of those idiots."

"I can see how you would get along with them."

I am about to slap him, when a door opens and father enters the room. He pauses when he sees Luke and I glaring at each other. "Whatever it is that you two are fighting about, don't let it out of this room."

Sending one last glare to Luke, I make my way towards the door to the ballroom. Luke stands next to me with father in front of us ready to lead the way down the stairs.

Father nods to the guards to open the doors. As the doors open I hear an announcer proclaim,, "Now presenting, Emperor Vader, Prince Luke, and Princess Leia." This is the worst part of the night. I feel like an animal at the zoo, every step I take being watched by hundreds of people. I see Zeth and a few of my other friends by the dance floor. We make it to the bottom of the stairs and father dismisses everyone to return to whatever they were doing previously. I quickly make my way towards Zeth and the others.

When I get there I see he is talking to our friends Gale, Ara, Liana and Skye. Liana is the first to see me, she skips over and says, "Hey girly!" before giving me a quick hug. The others also say hi and I receive a couple more hugs from Zeth and Ara.

"Heeeey, pretty lady," comes from Skye who is holding a drink that appears to be whisky. I look around and notice Gale and Zeth also have some cups of whisky in their hands.

"How did you guys get your hands on that?" I ask.

"Boc snuck it in and gave us some in the men's bathroom." Zeth says with a slick smile.

I laugh, "Charming."

"Hey, Ara, let's go dance." This comes from Gale, who obviously has had a bit more to drink than the other two. Gale pulls Ara close and trie to drag her towards the dance floor. Ara doesn't seem to be having any of it, so she quickly slips under his arm leaving him looking confused at the space she used to be. We all laugh. Ara and Gale have been dating for a few months now and are always funny to watch interact. Ara is always very quiet and shy, where Gale is usually the life of the party.

"Aw come on Ara, look at the poor boy. He's lost without you," Zeth begs.

Ara blushes and looks over at Gale. She then giggles, "Well we can't have that can we?" before grabbing her boyfriend and escorting him to the dance floor.

Skye lookes at me with a sheepish grin on his face, "You're next Leia." I laugh as he slings his arm around me and directs me towards the dance floor. I see Zeth ask Liana to dance and they follow us.

As we are dancing, I keep an eye out for father to see whose parents he is talking to. I can't find him until Skye says "Looks like our parents are getting to know each other." I look to where his head is pointed and see that father is indeed talking to Skye's parents. I look at Skye, did he know about the arrangement?

"That's interesting, wonder what they're talking about, do you know?"

He shakes his head confused, "No, do you?"

I can sense he is telling the truth. "You can ask your parents about it later" I answer.

For the rest of the dance I can't help but stare at Skye. 'He could potentially be my future husband' I think to myself. I like Skye. He's very smart, even if he doesn't always act like it sometimes. He's funny and has a good heart. I would be okay spending the rest of my life with him, maybe even fall in love with him eventually.

This lightens my mood a bit. Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

-an hour later-

I'm sitting in one of the lounge rooms, watching as my friend Torin going around to every girl at the ball and use dirty pickup lines trying get them to dance with him. He already tried, 'I would like to lick your bellybutton, from your inside' on me. Which is why he is currently moving slower after I kneed him in the groin.

I hear someone sit next to me. I look over to see it is Eryk Ando smiling smugly at me, "Hello Princess."

I roll my eyes and look away. As much as I like his parents, Eryk is not my favorite person. He is mean, very self-important and will step on anyone to get what he wants.

I return my attention to Torin who is currently being slapped by Jula. I laugh, as much as I love Torin and his sense of humor, he is not a ladies man when drunk.

"I said hello Princess" Eryk says sharply next to me. I still ignore him.

He grabs my wrist and pulls my body so I am facing him. "You know the polite thing to do when someone says hello is to say hello back."

"Leave me alone Eryk, I don't feel like playing games tonight."

He smiled evilly at me, "Life's a game Princess, you will find out soon enough."

"Is there a problem here?" I turn around to see Zeth, Boc, a drunken Gale and a red cheeked Torin glaring at Eryk.

Eryk's glare goes back and forth between the boys and I a few times, contemplating his next move. He then smiles and says, "No, I was just leaving." He gets up, but before walking away he looks at me and says "Nice chatting with you Leia, I'll see you in a bit." I watch him walk away, feeling a bit confused.

I turn to Zeth who is looking at me with concern and asks, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I've dealt with worse than Eryk Ando."

Gale drunkenly walks over and leans on my shoulder. "Well if he bothers you again, come find me. I'll make sure he never looks your way again" He slurs. I laugh as he tries to pat me on the back and ends up swatting the air next to my body.

Torin is the next to speak. "Yeah, besides you should only be talking to us gentlemen. Now about the bellybutton…" he smirks.

I giggle and roll my eyes, "Not going to happen Torin."

Everyone laughs as Zeth hits Torin on the back of the head.

-the end of the ball-

Father, Luke and I are seated on our thrones that had been brought onto a stage dedicated for end of the night's toasts. This was the second worst part of the night, listening to all the boring speeches.

The last person before my father to give a toast is finishing up. I think he is a senator from somewhere, I'm not sure. I'm not really paying close attention. I am instead watching everyone in the crowd. Well not the adults, but I always find the teenagers and children funny to watch. The children are always either to restless to sit still or passed out in odd places and positions from the exhaustion of being up so late. Then there's the teenagers. Most sat there behaving and paying attention to the speeches. But there were always some jewels in the audience doing weird things. I note Damon and Lyon who must have had some spice because they are staring at everything as if it were a talking tree. Gale and Ara are sitting next to each other. Gale has his arm around Ara's shoulder and his hand keeps moving farther and farther down her front, only to be slapped away by Ara's hand. Torin keeps getting hit by Kaeli, whom I assuming is on the receiving end of some dirty pickup lines.

Then there are some more of my lovely friends sitting in the back making faces and trying to get me to laugh on stage whenever I look their way. I almost did break out in giggles when Boc and Brian pretended to be making out. But I knew how much trouble I would be in if I disrupted one of the toasts.

'Would you tell the group of Bandara you associate yourself with to stop making fools of themselves.' Luke's voice commands in my head. Darn that boy. I shoot him a glare. Then I hear everyone applause indicating the toast is over, so I join the applause and direct my attention back the crowd.

Father is the next to speak. My nerves shoot through the roof. I look at Skye who was currently trying to stop a drunken Boc from taking off his shirt. He noticed me staring and sends a smile. I smile back. I sure hope it is Skye father chooses. Next to Zeth, he is my closest guy friend. We aren't nearly as close as Zeth and I are, but Skye has a very good head on his shoulders and a kind heart in his chest. We would be happy together.

Father begins his speech, I don't pay much attention to the beginning until I hear "…my daughter's new engagement." Father motions for me to stand up, which I do. The nerves start up again. "May I present to you my soon to be son in law, Eryk Ando.

My heart stops. I watch as the one person, other than father and Luke, who I can't stand walk onstage. I am frozen in place. He moves towards me, puts his arm around my shoulder and kisses my cheek, then whispers in my ear "That's right Princess, you are all mine now." I feel him smirk before pulling away and smiling at the crowd with his arm still around me. The crowd begins to applause.

I am still frozen. I look to Zeth who is staring at me in shock along with most of the people in the crowd, even those clapping. Eryk was a well-known personality to most people.

I want to cry. This could not be happening. Skye looks at me with sorrow in his eyes. Boc, Gale, Ara, and a few others are glaring at Eryk with hatred on their faces.

Eventually the applause dies down and father finishes his speech. Father and Luke make a move to leave the stage. I follow them with Eryk right trailing close behind me. We enter the hallway connecting the ballroom to the rest of the palace and pause.

Eryk walks up to father and says, "Thank you Your Grace, I am honored to be marrying your lovely daughter."

Father replies, "You were the best candidate, do not make me regret this decision."

Eryk nods and answers, "You won't. Now if you would please excuse me, I must return to my parents. Thank you Your Excellence, Prince Luke, Princess" he finishes looking at me with and evil glint in his eyes.

I shiver as he walks past me and through the door. I look to father, "Father please, you cannot make me marry him." I beg.

Father rolls his eyes at me with an annoyance, "Really Leia, I have already made my decision. Eryk was the most suited for the position. What do you have to complain about."

"Father please! I can't, I won't marry him. He is cruel, he has done nothing but terrorize people since we were small."

Father's face becomes angry, "I have made my decision, and I don't care what your friends have to say about it. Learn to deal with it."

"PLEASE" I scream, tears streaming down my face, "I have never asked you for anything. Don't make me do this."

"ENOUGH," father yells, his eyes blazing. "I won't stand for this behavior Leia. You are sixteen, it is time to grow up!" With that he marches away leaving Luke, me and a couple of unlucky guards in his wake.

Luke is about to follow father when I grab his arm, "Please Luke, go talk to him. Convince him out of this. Please, for once stop being the Prince and be my brother. Help me. Please Luke. Please!" I plead while still crying.

Luke looks at me for a second, emotionless. Then says, "Father is right, grow up." He shakes me off his arm and walks away.

I stand in the hallway with the guards, but still feel alone.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Orion's POV

I watch as Emperor Vader announces who Leia's future husband will be. My body goes cold when I hear it is Eryk Ando. I have worked enough events over the past fifteen years to know what type of person Eryk is. When he was a child, I always had to stop him from pulling girls hair and putting things in the food. Then when he got older, it was lifting girls' skirts and tripping children when they ran by. Each time I caught him, he would come up with some excuse for his parents. His parents are nice enough people, but never believe their son could ever caused so much trouble.

Eryk has also been the subject of many ice cream and movie nights with Leia, me and sometimes Zeth. Both of them have numerous stories of mind games and tricks Eryk would play on them. Once Eryk and a group of fifteen other teenagers were caught doing spice in a closet at a fundraiser and one of the teens had a bad stick that put him in a coma. Eryk convinced the group not to tell the authorities that he was the one who bought the spice. So the entire group never gave the police any information about that night, except Eryk. He blamed the entire mess on another teen who was running against him for class president at school. The other teen had the worst punishment of all and wasn't even involved with it, where Eryk walked away with a clean slate for telling the authorities 'the truth.'

After the Emperor's speech was finished, the four onstage walked into the back towards the residence part of the palace. A short while later Eryk comes out with a smirk on his face. All the guests begin leaving and I'm sure his parents must be waiting for him, but I need to have a word with him first before he leaves.

I make my way over to Eryk. I place a hand on his shoulder and he turns around to face me. He frowns in confusion when he sees that it is a guard who stopped him.

"Hello Mr. Ando, I am Orion Astar. I am Princess Leia's head of security."

His eyebrows rise a bit "I see, well my parents are waiting for me, so if you would excuse me, I need to go."

I grab his shoulder as he tries to walk away. "I would just like to congratulate you on your engagement and wanted introduce myself. Since I am head of your fiancé's security, we will be seeing quite a bit of each other."

"Well thank you, but I don't see why we will be seeing each other. You are just another guard."

"Well I practically raised Leia since she was a little girl. I make sure that she is safe from any threats," I look him in the eyes and add, "even ones close in range."

Eryk glares at me, "I don't know what you are referring to. I am simply here to keep an eye on Leia for the Emperor and keep her in line. The Emperor thinks that Leia is a bit too wild for her rank, and needs someone to wrangle her in. He thought I was best suited for the job" he leans in a bit closer to say, "and I will succeed in carrying out his wishes."

I give him my angriest, most threatening glare. "Just remember, it is my job to keep her safe. If that means protecting her from you, then I will."

With that I storm away. As I turned a corner I can see Eryk smiling evilly at me. He is planning something.

Zeth's POV

I say goodbye to my still shocked and angry parents and friends, then make my way to the residence part of the palace. I have to make sure Leia is okay; I knw she won't be.

I see Eryk leave the room where Leia, Luke and the Emperor disappeared. I am about to confront him, when I see Orion making his way over to Eryk. I figure I will let Orion take care of this and continue on my way toward the residence area.

As I arrive at the residence entrance, a guard stops me and orders, "Halt, guests are not permitted beyond this point.

"Oh you know who I am, and you know I have clearance! Let me through, I need to check on Leia" I snap at him.

The guard stares at me for a second before looking at the other guards. The others stare back for a while before one shrugs and nods his head.

The first guard looks back at me and says, "She's in her room."

I am about to go before another says, "Wait." He goes into a room and comes back a few seconds later with a box of tissues. "You will need this." He states with a sad expression. Even though they are the recipients of many of our pranks, the guards have always seemed to like Leia. This must be hard for them to watch too.

I nod as a sign of thanks before making my way to Leia's suite. I can't hear anything as I walk up to the door because the suite is soundproof, but I can hear her sobs the minute I open the door.

The sobs seem to be coming from the bathroom. As I walk in, I see Leia sitting against the tub, next to the toilet. She is still in her dress, but her hair is down.

She doesn't notice me come in because she is crying so hard. I sit next to her and bring her into a hug. At first she resists, until realizing it's me, then cuddles closer and grabs my shirt for comfort.

We sit there like that for what seemed like an eternity. I just sit there rubbing her back while she cries into my shirt. I don't care though. At some point she ends up on my lap, which allows me to pull her into a tighter embrace. I can feel her shaking.

"I … do...uke…sai…ther…yk..so…ood." She tries saying something between sobs. I just hold her close, not knowing what to say. What was there to say? 'It will be okay.' That's a lie.

Leia frees herself from my grasp and lunges for the toilet where she throws up. That must have been why she was in here when I came in, she cried herself sick. I stand up and hold her hair back. It is gross, but I figure it's payback from last year's orphanage fundraiser where after the party, I threw up all over her couch.

After she seems to be finished, Leia sits back down where she was when I walked in. She still has tears running down her face, but she in't sobbing anymore. I go over to the sink and wet down a small towel that I hand Leia so she can wipe her face. I also grab the tissues the guard had given me. She graciously accepte the tissues and blows her nose.

Orion walked into the bathroom and sees Leia crying on the floor. He sits next to her and pulls her into a hug like I did before. I hear him whisper to her, "I will make sure you will be fine. I told you before, Eryk will have to get through me before he can hurt you." I kneel down on the other side of Leia and rub her shoulder.

"Ttttthank youuuu." Leia says with a shaky voice.

"Shhhhhhh." Orion whispers while pulling her in closer.

The three of us sit there for a while. Eventually Leia falls asleep from exhaustion. Orion carries her to her bedroom while I hold the door open. We debate getting her out of the dress, but decide we don't want to wake her up. I lift the sheets so Orion can put her in the bed. We leave the room and go into the living room.

"Are you going to spend the night?" Orion asks.

"Yeah. I have a feeling tomorrow morning won't be easy either. Are you?"

Orion nods and makes his way to one of the couches that turns into a bed. There is a second one in the room (Leia likes to have slumber parties while her father and brother are gone) that I claim. After we get the beds situated, Orion falls asleep.

I stay awake and stare at the ceiling for a while. How could this happen? Three days ago my biggest worry was my math test next week, now my best friend is in an arranged marriage to a jerk that I know will make her miserable!

I love Leia, she is like the sister I never had. My parents even view her like she was their daughter sometimes. I try to think of any way to get Leia out of this. I could go talk to the Emperor, but I doubt that he would listen to me after what happened yesterday. He would think I am just some boyfriend who wanted the fame that came with marrying the princess of the galaxy.

The only thing I can think of is running away. I quickly discard that idea; what kind of life would that be?

I'm at a loss. I sigh, I have to protect Leia from Eryk. Orion and I could do it together. That seems to be the only option.

I look over at Orion. He has helped me so many times in my life. Orion is like an uncle to me and is practically Leia's dad. Neither of them has ever said it to the other, but I know they both feel that way. In a way, the three of us are a little family. Orion and I are the only ones Leia has to lean on. Sure she has many other friends, but none as close to her as Orion and I.

I make as silent promise to myself. I promise to look out for Leia; I will keep her safe from Eryk and his cruel tricks, or I will die trying.

Luke's POV

I can feel Leia's distress from my suite. Leia is usually able to keep her mind shielded well; it is one of the only things father taught her to do with her abilities. I can usually never read her thoughts or emotions. She is also pretty good at hiding her presence to others.

But tonight I can feel every emotion flooding out of her. It doesn't seem to be ending soon. I debated checking on her, but then felt that someone was already trying to comfort her. Probably some guard that took pity on her, or maybe the boy from yesterday. They seemed close.

I know I'm not going to get any sleep for a while, so I decide to go try to block Leia's signals by meditating. I go to the meditation chamber to discover father already in there.

"I assume you feel it too" he asked from his sitting position on the floor. His eyes still closed.

"Yes. It's kind of hard to miss." I answer "I can't believe she is this upset over this."

Father is silent for a moment before he reply's, "She will get over it." There is a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"Do you think this is the best? She seemed fine with the idea yesterday, it wasn't until she found out who she was marrying that she became distressed. Maybe if you find someone else."

Father sits for a moment thinking, "No. I am confident in my choice. Eryk seemed to be the only one strong enough to try to tame your sister. Leia needs to gain some maturity and she won't be able to do that with any of the boys I saw her interacting with at the ball."

I nod but argue "She is only sixteen."

"You are the same age, yet I don't feel the need to watch your every move."

"I think she is just trying to find her way. She knows the only thing that is expected of her is to marry. She probably just wants to find more of a purpose."

"She doesn't need a purpose, she needs to stay put and be safe."

"You have never lived a safe life. Your marriage to our mother wasn't exactly a safe one, but you said you loved each other. That is probably all Leia wants. A marriage where she loves her husband."

Father sighs and stands up. "Love doesn't fix everything Luke, and it most often leads to heartbreak which is even more dangerous" he states before leaving the room.

I stand in the room for a while. Leia's emotions seem to be simmering down thankfully. It reminds me of when we were small, before either of us knew how to hide our emotions. I used to feel every time Leia was hurt or upset. It was awful sometimes, but it made us closer.

I often miss those days. When it was just Leia and I. We used to be best friends, now we can't even hold a conversation for more than five minutes without angering each other. I grew up to fast, and it seems she hasn't grown up quick enough.

This marriage would be good for Leia from that standpoint. Eryk seemed much more mature than the others at the party. Hopefully it would rub off on her.

I look at the locket that is hanging around my neck. I usually keep in under my clothes, but I always wear it. Leia has one just like it; father gave them to us when we were five. Inside is a picture of our mother. I don't know her name, nobody but father does. I have asked, but he won't tell me. She looks exactly like Leia.

Whenever I ask father about our mother, he simply says that they were in love and married in secret. But she then betrayed him the day of our birth. Father wasn't even there when Leia and I were born. Our mother apparently gave birth to us then died on some rebel ship. The Jedi tried taking us, but father saved Leia and I before they got away.

Was that what Father meant when he said love often leads to heartbreak? Whenever he talks about mother it is obvious he still loves her. He said they were happy when they were married. I wish that for Leia. I wish a happy marriage. I hope she learns to love Eryk like Father loved our mother.

I walk back to my room feeling that Leia has finally fallen asleep.

While trying to fall asleep, I wonder what my own wife will be like. I know I will need one eventually to have an heir.

I don't want some brainless girl who would sit there and be quiet. I want her to be like Leia, someone who will have a mind of her own. Have her own opinion and not be afraid to share it.

Do I want to love my wife? That is a difficult answer. Is it necessary that I love her? The only reason for her presence is to produce an heir. Is it worth what Father said about heartbreak? Was I willing to take the risk? I don't know.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Leia's POV

I woke up with itchy eyes. I lay there for a while trying to remember last night. Everything after entering my room was a blur. Well not a blur, as much as just a jumbled mess of sobbing.

I get up and notice that I am still in my dress from last night. I walk towards my bathroom. My bedroom door is open and I notice that Zeth and Orion are sleeping on my pull out couches. They must have wanted to make sure I was okay this morning. I smiled. I was lucky to have them.

I make my way towards my bathroom. I look in the mirror and was horrified by what I saw. My hair looked like a rats nest with random curls and chunks of vomit in it. There was make up all over my face and my dress was crinkled and sitting funny on me from a night of sleeping in it. I laughed. I looked like someone's drunken prom date.

I took a shower. Instead of drying my hair, I just put it in a braid. I then go to my closet and put on some leggings and a sweatshirt. I have no intentions of leaving my suite today so I wanted to be comfy.

As I walk into the sitting room I smell some food from the kitchenette. I walk in to see Orion and Zeth chowing down on some waffles. There is a third one on the table which I assume is for me.

"Hey Sleeping Beauty, you look fine today" Orion said with a bit of surprise in his voice.

"What did you expect me to look like?" I ask.

"We didn't know, we thought you might be a bit more emotional this morning." Zeth said before taking another bite.

"No, last night's meltdown was enough." I sat down and started pouring some syrup over my waffle.

Orion smiled at me. "You always have been able to recover quickly from anything."

Zeth's communicator beeped. He looked down at the screen and frowned, "It's my mom, she wants me home soon." He gets up walks next to my chair to give me a hug and says, "Call me if you need anything."

"I will. See you later" I said as he walked out the door. I looked over at Orion, "I'm guessing you have to go back to work."

"Eh, you're my job." He said with a mouthful of waffle.

"Eww Orion, really?" I laughed.

Orion's communicator went off. He looked at it and I saw a flash of anger in his eyes.

"What is it?" I asked hesitantly.

"Eryk's here to see you" he said then looked up at me, "I can send him away if you would like?"

I thought for a second, "No. It's alright, I'll talk to him. I have to face him eventually."

Orion nodded before sending a message that allowed Eryk enterence.

A few minutes later Eryk walks into the suite. He sees Orion and me in the kitchen and head over. "Hello Princess you look," he glances at my casual attire and hair and pauses, "…this morning."

I roll my eyes, "Hello Eryk."

Eryk eyes Orion, "Could you give us some privacy?"

Orion eyes him back, "Not until you learn to say please." Eryk glares.

I speak up, "Orion it's okay. I'll be fine."

Orion looks at me for a minute before nodding and getting up from his seat. Before he leaves he looks at me and says, "Just call if you need anything." I nod.

Now it's just Eryk and I. We sit there awkwardly for a minute, until I take another bite of my waffle. Eryk gives me a look, "You know you can take smaller bites, the waffles not going anywhere."

I roll my eyes again and swallow before saying "You sound just like Father."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You shouldn't."

He gives me another look, "Do you even know how to show respect to anyone?"

"Only to people who deserve it."

"Well you should probably start showing me some, I am your future husband."

"That's still up in the air."

He grabs my shoulder "Trust me Princess, I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me" he spat.

"Let go of me" I glared angrily at him.

"What will you do if I don't?"

"I'll scream."

"I know the suite is soundproof Princess. Nobody would hear you."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, just an observation." He smirked at me, "An observation I will put to use if necessary."

"If you ever touch me, I will have you arrested. There are cameras in here." I fumed.

"Cameras with video that will never be watched without consent from your father or brother."

"That's not true."

"Yes it is."

I stare at him bewildered for a second before asking, "How do you even know all this?"

He smirks, "I have connections. More connections than you will ever need to know." He leaned in closer, "I make it my job to know exactly what advantages are available to me."

I was speechless. How was he able to obtain so much information? How long has he been snooping around to find it? What did he mean advantages?

"Is this going to be our entire marriage? You sneaking around for information about me? Playing games with my head?"

"I told you last night Princess, life is a game, and until you learn to forfeit we will play the game."

"What do you mean forfeit?"

"When you learn to do what your told without any complaint or resistance." He stated simply.

"Well that's not going to happen. Father and Luke have been trying to control my every action my entire life and haven't succeeded. There is nothing you can do that they haven't tried yet. I'm not some puppet you can use Eryk, I won't go down without a fight." I declared with a passion.

Eryk just gave his infamous evil smile, "They haven't tried everything Princess."

At that moment Orion came back into the suite. "Is everything okay in here?" he asked eyeing Eryk.

Eryk, still smiling, answered "yes, everything is fine. Leia and I are just coming to an understanding. Isn't that right Princess?"

I glared at him, "You may escort yourself out Eryk."

I made a move to get up. But before I could Eryk grabbed my arm and said "I don't think we're done talking quite yet."

"Well we are, you may see yourself to the door." I said while trying to shake his hand off with no success.

"No, we're not. Sit down" he demanded.

Orion ran over and detached Eryk's arm from me and said to Eryk, "It is time for you to leave."

Orion grabbed Eryk by the arm and dragged him to the door. When they reached the door, he let go of Eryk who was glaring at him. Orion glared back. They stood there for a few minutes before Eryk smirked and said, "It's been nice talking to you Leia" and walked out the door.

I starred at the door as it closed behind Eryk. I let out a breath that I didn't realize I was holding.

Orion looked at me with concern, "Are you okay?"

I sighed, "Yes."

Orion nodded and said "Good, I'm going to go make sure Eryk leaves the building. How about you just relax and watch a movie or something?" With that he walked out of the door.

I put on one of my favorite movies and decide to finish my breakfast on the couch. As I'm eating I think about the conversation I had just had with Eryk.

What did he mean when he said he wouldn't stop until I forfeit? Did he really expect me to just give up? 'Give up on what?' I wonder.

The movie ends a few hours later and I decide to have a snack instead of lunch. I find some type of berries and bananas in my fridge. The main chef for the palace, Zylas, is always finding new fruits and vegetables for me to try. I don't really pay attention to the names of all them, but if they're in my fridge I eat them, except the bananas. I don't really like bananas, but Zeth loves them so Zylas always makes sure there is some in my fridge for when he's over. I grab the berries and pour some in a bowl to eat.

I spend the rest of my day in my suite. I do a few work out videos, read, sew, and review some of my lessons. I don't go to regular school obviously, I have a private tutor. According to him I do very well learning the lessons, especially languages. I usually would have a lesson tomorrow, but there is a parade that I am in.

I'm not sure if father or Luke will be in the parade. Probably not. I call up Orion to ask.

"No, but apparently you will be riding with Eryk." He answers over the communicator.

I sigh. Of course I have to ride with Eryk. Father probably wants us to get some good press with the new engagement. "Ok, thanks" I say before hanging up.

I go to my closet to pick out an outfit for tomorrow. Usually I would put on some really cute short dress with fun colors that would have spaghetti straps to stay cool out in the heat. But this time I chose some pants with a long sleeve shirt that also has a high neckline. I don't want Eryk getting any ideas.

After that I look at the clock. It is 10:30. I decide to go to bed because I know I have to get up early for the parade.

-the parade-

I'm standing next to Eryk on a float. Usually I would be in a speeder with bulletproof glass or something, but I guess father wanted the crowd to see me and my new 'fiancé.' Eh. The thought made me cringe, knowing I was thinking about Eryk. We haven't spoken to each other all day except for a couple of hellos. Which is fine by me.

Orion is standing behind us. That is unusual too. Usually he would be observing the scene for any signs of danger from a car ahead of me, but I guess he wanted to keep an eye on Eryk.

The parade goes on smoothly. Eryk hasn't done or said anything to me yet, which was nice. Instead he stood quite a bit away, probably a bit scared of Orion grabbing him again. I noticed he flinched when someone bumped into the arm that Orion had used to drag him. Maybe there was a bruise, this thought made me smile.

We were almost at the end of the parade when I heard it. A loud shot was sounded. A shot that would haunt my dreams for the rest of my life.

The next thing I know I'm being tackled to the ground for cover by Orion. He is trying to get me off the float when I hear a second shot get fired. This time I see where it hits. It hits Orion in the neck. I grab Orion to try to keep him sitting up.

I wait for a third shot to be fired, but it never is.

I look Orion over. His neck is gushing blood that is getting all over me, but I don't care. All I care about is the fact that Orion is still alive and is trying to tell me something.

I feel tears well up in my eyes. This can't be happening. Not Orion. "Orion look at me, stay awake. Ok? Stay awake." I start crying.

Orion looks at me with big eyes and says quietly, I can tell in his eyes that he knows he isn't going to make it. He is quiet for a second before saying quietly, "It's okay. I'm fine with this."

I break down, "No, you were only protecting me! You don't deserve this. You can't go."

He pats me on the shoulder and says, "I am fine with dying for you. I have always thought of you as my daughter."

I feel a thousand emotions at once rush through me. All I can do is look at him and say, "and you have always been my dad."

Some guards have made it onto the float and try to tear me away from Orion. I scream, "No!" and hold on, but they eventually carry me away. I see Orion watching the guards take me away. He sends a small smile before giving me a small wave. I see his body relax as he slumps to the side and lays there, unmoving.

The guards drag me to a speeder and shove me into it. Inside the speeder I cry. I just watched my dad die. He may not have been my biological father, but Orion was my dad. He raised me since I was small and has been there for through everything. Every accomplishment, meltdown, bad day, new experience. He was always there, and now he's gone.

I cry all the way back to the palace. Once there some guards usher me into the lobby where a medical team is there with a stretcher. I tell them through tears that I was alright, but they didn't listen. They bring me into a med room where they look over my body for any signs of injury. Throughout the examination I begin to calm down a bit.

They decide that I'm fine, I only have a bruise from being tackled on the ground. They let me take a shower to wash Orion's blood off my body. In the shower I just stand there and watch the blood rinse off my body and go down the drain. I let out a few silent sobs to myself remembering Orion's limp body. I stay in the shower until a nurse asks if I'm okay or if I need any help. I say I'm fine and turn the water off. The nurse brings in a change of clothes, nothing fancy, but comfy.

I sit in the corner reliving Orion's death over and over again in my head. I sit there and sob, not caring who is watching. A few nurses try to comfort me, but it didn't do any good. I cry, I cry harder than I did the night of the ball, harder than ever before in my life.

After a while the doctor comes in to tell me my father and brother are here to see me. This makes me even more upset. They are the last people I want to see right now, but the doctor lets them in anyways.

Father is the first to enter. He walks up to me and stands before my sobbing form. Luke walks in, but pauses at the door when he sees me. They both look at each other as if they are at a loss of what to do next.

Finally father looks at me and says, "I understand why you must be upset. Being shot at can be very traumatic." He pauses as if waiting for a response. I just sit there silently with tears streaming down my face.

I feel someone looking over my body with the force. Its father, checking to see if I have any injuries the doctor might have missed. I feel him finish and we sit there in an awkward silence.

"Eryk's okay if you were wondering. He seems to be handling this quite well. The first shot didn't hit anyone." Father says after I bit, I don't respond. I didn't really care how Eryk was doing, but it was nice to know nobody else got hurt because of me.

Luke was the next to speak, "I'm glad you are not hurt too bad." I still don't answer.

Father sighs and looks at the doctor, "Take her up to her room to rest." He then gives me one last glance before leaving the room. Luke stays for a few seconds looking at me as if trying to think of something else to say, but then leaves.

The doctor and nurses carry me up to my room. The sit me on the couch. One goes to the fridge and takes out the bananas and berries, puts them in a bowl, and sets it in front of me. She gently says, "Try to eat something sweetheart." I just stare at the bowl. The doctors and nurses quietly leave the room.

I don't know how long I sit there staring at the bowl. But eventually Zeth runs into the room. He sees me sitting on the couch and takes the seat next to me.

I look over at him. His eyes are puffy and pink, he must have been crying too.

"He's gone Zeth" I say in a small voice. "He's really gone."

Zeth just whispers and says "I know."

"He died saving me. It's my fault."

Zeth snaps his head towards me, "No its not. Don't think that for a second Leia. This is not your fault."

I let out a small sob and Zeth brings me into a hug. We sit there for what seems like hours.

Eventually I hear Zeth's stomach growl. "You should probably eat something," I say.

"Not hungry." There's another growl.

"Your stomach says differently. Have a banana."

"I will if you also eat. You could use it too."

I agree and we both eat the contents of the bowl the nurse set out. We eat in silence, not knowing what to say to each other. After we're finished we sit there staring at the wall. It's comforting to have Zeth there, even if it is in silence.

The door opens again and Eryk walks into the room. His glares at Zeth and I cuddling on the couch and asks, "Is there something going on here that shouldn't be?"

"What do you want Eryk? I don't feel like playing any games tonight."

"I came here to see if you were okay. Now I'm glad I came here for another reason." He states while still glaring at Zeth.

"Just leave Eryk." Zeth growls, pulling me closer as if for more protection.

"Not until you do Zeth" Eryk growls back. He takes a step forward and slips on a banana peel.

Zeth and I laugh, Eryk gets up and glares accusingly at us.

"Don't look at me, this was his doing. I don't even like bananas." I laughed.

"Another reason for him to leave." Eryk said fuming.

"He is more welcomed than you are right now."

"Leave Eryk. Now." Zeth demands.

Eryk doesn't move. Zeth gets up and starts charging toward Eryk. Eryk then quickly says "Fine." He storms out of the room.

"Thank god" I hear Zeth say under his breath. He sits back down next to me. I lean my head on his shoulder. We sit like that until Zeth's communicator goes off.

"I have to go. Will you be okay?"

"Yeah. I think I kinda need to be alone for a while. Thanks for coming over."

"It was more for me actually. You were the only one I wanted to see after I heard what happened." He says quietly.

I nod understandingly. "Still though. Thanks."

Zeth gives me one last hug before leaving. I sit in the silence for a while before going to bed.

I cry myself to sleep that night, fearing waking up tomorrow knowing Orion is dead. Eventually exhaustion takes over and I fall asleep.

Lukes POV

I wake up in the middle of the night feeling a disturbance. It is coming from Leia. It feels kind of like another one of her meltdowns, but different. It is worse. It almost feels like the disturbance is directed at Leia, not coming from her. It is hard to tell.

I get up and head towards her room to see what is wrong. I enter her suite and hear her screaming from the bedroom. I run in there.

She is lying in bed screaming and clawing at her neck. Her eyes are closed, she must be having a nightmare.

I run up to her side and shake her to try to get her to wake up. It's not working, whatever it is, is holding her in the nightmare. I feel Father enter the suite and begin heading towards the bedroom.

Suddenly it stops and Leia bolts into a sitting position on the bed. She looks around and sees me next to her. She screams and tries to jump away, making her fall off the bed. She sits up and screams at me, "Don't touch me!"

Father enters the room asking, "What is going on?"

Terror and recognition flash in Leia's eyes. As Father walks closer to her she screams, "Stay away from me!" and runs into the bathroom. I hear the door lock.

Father and I make our way to the bathroom door and Father says, "Leia open up. What is wrong?"

"Leave me alone." I hear her sob.

Father unlocks the door and opens it. Leia is sitting on the floor with her hands on her neck. She looks up at Father with fearful eyes and begs, "Please, just leave."

Realization flashes through Fathers eyes. He looks at me and says "Come Luke." He leaves the bathroom.

I stand there dumbfounded. What was going on? I look at Leia. Her hands are still around her throat as if she were protecting it. She looks at me and whispers, "Please, just go."

I am about to say no when I hear Father scream "LUKE!" from the sitting room. I quickly leave. I follow Father out into the hallway. For the first time in my life, he seems flustered.

"Father what happened?"

He looks at me with big eyes, "Nothing Luke. Go back to bed." He walks away leaving me even more confused.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Leia's POV

The next few months went by interestingly.

Zeth visited me almost every day. I didn't mind though, in fact it was nice having him around. I often thought of Orion and I was happy to have someone to talk to. We mostly just hung out in my suite, then go out maybe once a week to do something fun. But it was weird knowing that Orion wasn't there with us, making sure we were safe.

Eryk tried to visit often. This, I was not okay with. I usually would talk to him for about ten minutes then try to ignore him for the rest of his visit. After about a week, I realized why Zeth was coming over so often. Zeth would always try to keep Eryk away from me, whether it was sitting between us or stopping Eryk from verbally attacking me. Eryk was obviously getting annoyed with Zeth getting between us, but I didn't care.

The day after the night of my nightmare, Father decided that he and Luke were going to stay at the palace for a while. He didn't say it was because of my nightmare, but I knew it was. Father started avoiding me, but I often felt him trying to search my head for the source of the dream, but I was pretty good at keeping him out. After seeing what I saw in my dream, I didn't want him anywhere near my head. I always knew mother betrayed our father, but I can't believe he would…never mind, I don't want to ever remember that again. Even though it was a nightmare, I could tell that it was real. Father's reaction to seeing it in my head only proved my assumption correct.

Luke visited my suite every once in a while. The visits usually consisted of a brief greeting, awkward silence, him asking about Eryk or the dream, me avoiding the questions, and more awkward silence. It was an unnatural feeling talking to him. We were just so different. It didn't help that he still thought of me as some immature little girl. After sitting in silence for a while, he would excuse himself.

I didn't tell anyone about my nightmare. I defiantly wasn't going to tell Eryk, and I didn't want to worry or anger Zeth. Luke would ask about it every time he visited, but I didn't tell him what my nightmare consisted of. He wouldn't believe me anyway, he would just call me a liar. Father was the only one who knew what the nightmare was about.

I noticed that the guards and staff being nicer to Zeth and I. Not that they weren't nice before, but now there was a hint of pity in everything they did. It was no small secret that Orion, Zeth and I were close. I started receiving small gifts from the palace employees, friends, and even some from citizens around the galaxy, all saying how sorry they were for my loss. Zeth also received a few gifts from random strangers. They usually were flowers, some type of comfort food, or a stuffed creature of some kind.

Zylas even started putting more food in my fridge. Usually there would only be a two or three types of fruit or vegitables, now the fridge was almost overflowing with all sorts of them. I had tried almost all of them, except the bananas, I left those for Zeth. There was also always a tub of ice cream or chocolate in the freezer. Zeth and I both gained a couple of extra pounds from constantly snacking, but we didn't care. At first I thought the press would have a field day, but they seemed to think I looked great not being so skinny anymore, something about showing children you don't have to be stick skinny to be pretty. Whatever, they probably are just trying to be supportive. I was friends with a few reporters and news anchors from doing interviews.

One day Zeth and I were hanging around in my bedroom. We were laying on my bed throwing some type of nasty berries at the ceiling, trying to get them to stick. It didn't start out that way, Zeth was eating some bananas and grabbed me a bowl of the new type of berries in the fridge. I tried eating one but its juice was so sticky that it stuck to the inside of my mouth. Zeth made fun of me for not knowing how to chew my food, so I threw one at him and it stuck to his face. Then there was a competition of throwing them up in the air and catching them in our mouths. Zeth accidently threw one to high that it stuck to the ceiling, and here we are. I knew it was childish, but it was the first time in months that I was having true fun. I wasn't crying about Orion, dreading my arranged marriage, or remembering the awful nightmare. I knew I would be yelled at by someone who would be in charge of cleaning it up, but I didn't care. If anything, Zeth and I would probably clean it up before anyone noticed.

After about twenty minutes the berries started falling off the ceiling. We laughed as the little silver balls of fruit started falling around us. I made the mistake of mentioning they looked like comets falling on the planet. Zeth immediately jumped up and screamed, "GET DOWN PRINCESS!" and jumped on me, pinning me under him. I laughed, this was a game that we often played before the parade incident. Zeth and all my friends pretended to be my bodyguards and would always tackle me when the littlest bit of fake danger was present. We hadn't played this game since the parade, it was nice feeling like things were getting a bit back to normal. While laughing, I rolled us over so I was above him and pinned his arms to the bed. We wrestled for a couple minutes before hearing,

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?"

Zeth and I whip our heads around to see Eryk fuming in the door. I look down at Zeth whose torso I was currently sitting on. I laughed and said, "Apparently the heir of the Anderson fortune." Zeth burst out in laughter and rolled over, forcing me to lay next to him. We both continued to hysterically giggle, especially when we saw the angry look on Eryk's face.

"YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?!"

Zeth looked at him and said, "Yeah, that's why we're laughing." This sent us on another wave of giggles.

Eryk stopped over to the bed and yanked me up into a sitting position. "I think you need to start remembering who your fiancé is Princess."

I glared at him, "Back off Eryk, Zeth and I were only having fun. Nothing was going to happen. Besides why do you care?"

Eryk fumed "Because the only person who you should be in bed with, should be me."

I rolled my eyes, "Please, like that's going to happen."

"Excuse me?" Eryk practically screamed.

"Just because we're getting married, doesn't mean you're getting anywhere near me in bed Eryk." I state with a cocky grin on my face.

The next thing I feel is a hard force hitting my face. My head hits the pillow and I hear Zeth scream, "HEY!" I look up to see Zeth jumping off the bed and pinning Eryk to the wall. Eryk tries to get away, but Zeth is much stronger.

"LET ME GO ANDERSON!" Eryk yells.

"I don't think so Ando" Zeth spats, "not until you listen to me. If you ever try to touch her like that again, I will…"

"Stop Zeth" I say from the bed, "He's not worth it."

Zeth looks over at me while still holding Eryk to the wall in a steel grip. Eryk looked like he was about to tear Zeths eyes out. Zeth looked back at Eryk and glared. Everything was still for a minute before Zeth tells Eryk "Leave" before letting him go.

Eryk stands there glaring at Zeth, "Watch you back Anderson." He sends a furious look at me and quickly makes his way out of the room. I hear the door to my suite slam shut as he exits.

Zeth walks over to me and examines my head where Eryk slapped me. "I'll go get you some ice, that looked like it hurt."

Before I can tell him not to, he is out of the room. He comes back with a towel that has some ice in it. I take the towel and put it on my face while saying, "Thanks."

We sit on my bed for a while, not saying anything. After a few minutes a berry falls on Zeth and hits him in the eye. Zeth grabs his eye and quietly yells "ow."

I hand him the towel, "Here."

"No, I'm fine. You use it."

"No really, I'm fine. It didn't hurt that bad, Eryk's kind of a whimp." I lie. Not completely, it didn't hurt that bad, but I could tell that Eryk was pretty strong.

Zeth laughs and takes the towel.

-the next day-

I wake up around ten. I look at the schedule on my holopad and remember that I have a ball to attend tonight. I groan. The last one I went to was not fun. It consisted of me trying to avoid not only father and Luke, but also Eryk. At least Zeth is coming to this one.

I get up and go to the bathroom. I look in the mirror and see a bruise on my face from Eryk's slap. I'll have to put on some extra make-up on that for the ball.

My day is spent of eating lunch, finishing up some homework, and laying around my suite. Zeth doesn't come by to visit because I'll see him at the ball.

I pick out my dress. It's an A-line with corset. It is nice and light, so I can dance without getting too hot. I start to look forward to the ball. All my friends would be there, so it should be at least a bit fun.

Luke's POV

The ball is pretty dull. I make my way through the crowd and talk to a few diplomats. A few asked me about Leia's engagement and how the wedding process was going. I told them it was going fine, although I honestly didn't know.

"So will you be picking a bride soon?" a wife of a senator asks me.

This catches me off guard. I look at the woman and answer "No, I don't find it necessary right now."

"Oh, well when you do, I'm sure she will feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I know I felt that way when I married Howard." The woman smiled at me before walking away to dance with her husband.

I contemplated what she said for a while. Would my future wife be happy with me? I want her to be. I mean I don't want her to be stuck in the palace miserable her entire life. She will also be having my children, so I want her to at least like me. I'm still not sure if love will be in the picture though. I look around at the girls at the ball. They all seem to be either afraid of me, or are trying to get me to ask them to dance. One of them could possibly be the mother of my child. I shook my head. I didn't want my wife to be like them. Either scared and tries to avoid me, or obsessed with being the next queen of the galaxy. I didn't know what I wanted in my future bride, but I didn't want her to be like that.

Leia, quickly moving through the crowd, brushes past me. Eryk is trying to follow behind her, but the crowd seems to be purposely trying to get in his way. He eventually loses her and goes to the food table to survey the room. Leia, who appears to have found some friends, enters the dance floor. I recognize the boy she is dancing with as the one from her closet.

I watch the two of them dance for a while. She is smiling and laughing the entire time at some story he is telling her. They dance for a couple songs, not romantically, but it is obvious they are good friends. A pang of jealousy runs through me. It has been years since Leia and I were that way. I visited her quarters a few times over the past few months, but we could barely hold a conversation for more than five minutes without it getting awkward. She was more closed off to me than she was when we were little. I guess I can't blame her entirely, I haven't put in much effort into maintaining a sibling relationship.

The song ends and Leia and the boy stop dancing. They look over at Eryk, who is glaring at them furiously from the food table, and whisper to each other. Leia then gives the boy a quick kiss on the cheek. The two are surrounded by a group of teenagers, who all look over at Eryk. They all laugh when they see the anger on Eryk's face. The next song starts and everybody goes back to dancing.

At this point I have seen enough. I don't care if Eryk and Leia aren't on good terms, but they are engaged and Leia shouldn't be embarrassing Eryk in public like this. I walk up to Leia and the boy. The boy sees me coming and pauses, Leia quickly follows suit when she sees me.

"May I have this dance with my sister?" I ask the boy.

Leia and the boy look at each other surprised. Then Leia gives a small smile and shrugs. The boy looks at me and says, "of course your grace" before walking away. I see him walk up to a group of guys who he engages conversation with.

Leia and I start dancing, it is a bit awkward, but in some way comforting.

"So, I see you have been busy annoying your fiancé." I say, I try to play it off as a joke so it won't upset her.

Leia gives a small laugh "Yeah, but he knows that Zeth and I are only friends."

"The kiss would say differently."

Leia rolls her eyes, "It was just a joke Luke. Zeth is just my best friend. There is nothing romantic between us."

I nod, believing her. "When did you two become friends?"

"We met at a fundraiser when I was five, and have been best friends ever since."

"So you two are close, I presume."

Leia smiles and nods "Yeah, ever since were little kids. We do everything together."

I look over at the boy, Zeth apparently. He is still talking to the group of boys. A waiter comes by and offers him a drink. At first he declines, but the waiter seems to persuade him into taking it. He accepts the drink and takes a sip before the waiter finally leaves. The group of boys then laugh at the weird encounter and continue on with their conversation.

"You met him when we were five?" I ask.

"Yup. We grew up together."

"So right after I started training with father."

Leia pauses and stares at me for a second, then continues dancing. "Yes" she says.

"Right after we stopped talking."

"Yes. We became very close after that. I was lonely after you left and he has always been there for me."

"You could have just called me."

Leia's eyes shoot daggers at me, "I tried Luke, you rarely picked up."

"I was busy training, I couldn't answer every call. But you didn't have to replace me with someone you met at a fundraiser."

"You know what Luke. Stop. You don't get a say in who I hung out with growing up. You were never there. I am sorry that Zeth was more like a brother to me growing up than you were."

I stop dancing and glare at her "I'm sorry that you found it acceptable to try to replace your true family. Not just me, but father too. Don't think we don't know how close you were to that guard who died. We have recordings of what you said to him on the parade float."

Anger spreads through Leia's face. "Don't you dare talk about Orion. You have no right…"

"I'm your _brother_. I have every right to know that I was replaced."

Leia glares at me, but now there is a hint of sadness in her eyes, "You just don't get it, do you?"

"Apparently not." I spat before marching away.

I make my way off the dance floor. I look back at Leia. Eryk is pulling on her arm, probably trying to get her off the dance floor, but Leia is not cooperating. Eventually Eryk puts his arm around her and starts pushing her off the floor as discretely as possible. Great, he can deal with her, at this point I don't care anymore.

I walk into a private sitting room to cool off for a while, then return to the ball.

I am talking to a group of senators when I notice Leia almost running through the crowd. She seems distressed, her dress looks a bit messy, and practically sprints to Zeth when she sees him. Zeth sees her coming his face grows concerned. Leia buries her face into his chest and he puts his arms around her while whispering something to her. She looks up at him, face full of tears, and appears to go on a rant. As she is speaking, Zeth's face grows furious and he marches to where Leia had come from. I am a bit confused by this transaction, but decide to ignore it. Leia can solve her own drama.

The ball continues on normally. Father is the only one giving a toast at the end of the night, and Leia and I are to stand behind him while he gives the toast. The end of the night nears, but I can't find Leia to go up on stage.

Father approaches me, "Where is your sister?" he asks.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her for hours."

"Well, she will probably see us on stage and make her way up here."

I nod and follow Father up on stage. We stand there for a while, Father is about to start the speech when Leia walks up. She stands next to me without a word. Father starts his speech, but I don't pay attention. I am too focused on Leia's face. Her eyes are still red from crying, but she applied more make-up so you can't tell unless close up. She is expressionless, that is strange. Usually she is smirking at someone in the crowd.

Father finishes his speech and the three of us make our way offstage. We make it to the back hallway, and Leia walks away towards the resident part of the palace without a word. Father and I watch her leave and look at each other in confusion.

"Do you know what that was about?" Father asks.

"We had a fight today, but I didn't think she would be this mad."

Father replies "Well talk to her about it tomorrow when she calms down a bit."

Leia's POV

I feel disgusting. Every inch of my skin is burning from where he touched me. I'm in my shower desperately trying to scrub away the invisible filth I feel all over my body. My mind is blank. All I can do is try to clean myself.

It's no use, no matter how hard I scrub, I can still feel it. Never have I felt so vulnerable. I give up and sit on the shower floor with the water flowing over me. I still have my dress on, it puddles around me while I sit.

I hear a knock on the door, I say in a small voice "Come in."

Zeth enters the bathroom. He sees me in the shower and sits next to me, not caring about how wet he is getting. He pulls me into a hug and whispers "I'm sorry." I hear a bit of a sob in his voice.

I hold onto him. We sit there for what seems like an eternity. I cry into his shoulder and he rubs my back.

I don't get too emotional. I don't want to alert Luke or Father of my vulnerability at the moment. Not after what Eryk said. I want them as far away from me as possible. How could Father? How could he do this? I knew he always wanted control, but I never thought he would go so far as to do this.

Zeth eventually turns the water off, but we don't move from the shower. Hours pass but we don't move, we don't speak, we don't do anything. The events of the night replay through my head. Every horrible moment. In one night I went from feeling happier than I have in months to feeling violated and used.

Zeth begins coughing, he has been since the party. But this time it's different. This time it is more violent, more aggressive. Eventually it passes. I look over and ask "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, are you?"

I look away "Not right now."

He rubs my back, "I'm so sorry Leia."

"It's not your fault Zeth. You couldn't have done anything."

"I could have been there, I could have stopped him."

I shook my head, "He would have found a way Zeth."

"I should have…" Zeth let out another loud cough.

I pat his back, "C'mon, let's dry off, you might be getting sick."

He nods and we change into some dry clothes. We sit on the couch in the living room and stare at the wall. Zeth looks over and says, "I'm feeling a bit hungry, you want a snack?"

I shake my head no, "No thanks, I don't feel like eating right now."

Zeth nods and goes to the kitchen. He comes back with a banana. He returns to his seat next to me and we sit there in silence.

A few minutes later Zeth coughs again. This is the worse it's been so far. He won't stop coughing. I run to the kitchen and grab a glass of water and some napkins. I give them to Zeth, who is still coughing up a storm. He tries taking a sip of water, but coughs it back up into the napkins. Not knowing what else to do, I rub his back. He pulls the napkin away from his mouth and I see that it is covered in blood.

My eyes grow wide, "Zeth, we need to get you some help."

Zeth responds with puking up some more blood onto my carpet. I run to the phone and call the guards to get some medical help. Within minutes, there are a dozen guards in my suite helping Zeth onto a stretcher. I follow them down to the medical wing of the palace.

The doctors won't let me in the room when they examine Zeth. I am forced to sit outside and wait. Eventually Zeths parents arrive. Mrs. Anderson runs up to me and begins asking me a thousand questions about what happened and if Zeth was okay.

"I I I ddddon't knowwww" I stutter through tears. "Heeee wwwasss cocccoughing, then jjjust stttarted puukking blood."

The three of us sit in the hallway outside the medicine room for what seems like forever. Finally a doctor and nurse come out looking sad. They look at the Andersons then me.

"Princess, I need to talk to the Andersons alone." The doctor says.

Mr. Anderson argues, "It's alright."

The doctor nods and goes on, "Zeths organs have been apparently failing for a few months now. We don't know why, but tonight something triggered them to all start decomposing at a rapid rate."

The Andersons and I stare at him speechless. Mrs. Anderson finally says, "What does this mean?"

"It means that Zeth only has a few hours left. There is nothing we can do. All the blood we give him, all the repairs we do to his organs, they all start to decompose. His body won't accept any treatments or transplants. I am so sorry."

The room is still. My eyes are burning with tears. Mrs. Anderson is crying with her hand covering her mouth. Mr. Anderson is staring at the doctor in shock. This can't be happening.

The doctor says after a few minutes "Zeth is aware of his condition and would like to see all three of you."

We all nod and slowly make our way into the room. Zeth is sitting in a bed, looking pale and tiny. I breakout into sobs. Zeth looks up, his eyes are bright red with tears. Mrs. Anderson runs over and pulls him into her arms, crying. Mr. Anderson and I are standing next to the bed, not knowing what to do.

The next few hours consists of Zeth, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson and I talking and crying. Zeth grows even sicker as the night goes on. He keeps coughing up more and more blood. I can see the life being drained from him.

Zeth looks over at me. I can tell in his eyes that he only has a few minutes left. He tells me "Your amazing Leia, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Don't listen to Eryk or Luke or your father. Don't. You are better than all of them." He takes my hand. "Don't let them control your life. Be happy. You deserve to be happy. Be happy for the both of us."

All I can do is nod my head. I know if I try to speak, only sobs will come out.

Zeth continues, "Tell Ara to keep Gale in line. She is good for him. Tell Damon and Lyon to lay off the spice. Try to get Torin a girlfriend, someone who will make him calm down on the desperate jokes he says. Make sure Skye goes to college, he's smart, he could do something great with his life. But most of all, make sure you will be alright. Let me die knowing that you will be alright."

I whisper through tears, "I'll try Zeth."

Zeth nods and looks at his parents, "I love you both. I'm sorry for not always behaving or trying my hardest. I'm sorry for every time I yelled, or said I hate you. I didn't mean it. You were the best parents a kid could have…"

Mrs. Anderson took him into a hug before he could say anything else. She whispered "We know sweatheart, we know. We love you too."

"We couldn't be any prouder of you son." Mr. Anderson added.

Zeth smiled and gave a small laugh. Then his face relaxed and his body went slump in Mrs. Andersons arms. He was gone.

I don't know how the Andersons reacted. I couldn't bring my eyes from Zeth's face. It was so still. Just yesterday he was laughing and running around my suite, now he was motionless.

I break out into sobs. Every emotion goes through me, anger, grief, pity, misery, sadness, helplessness. But one feeling stays with me through it all, and that is the feeling that for the first time in my life I feel completely and utterly alone.


	6. Chapter 6

Fable's POV

-2 months later-

My galaxy government class seems to be going on forever. The clock says it's only 2:45. Dang it! Still 15 minutes left. This is so dumb, why am I even here? Nobody else is. What is the teacher even talking about right now? Something about Princess Leia's wedding.

This sparks my interest. I can't wait to watch that; it's recorded on my holoscreen at home. Most of my friends got to stay home today to watch the wedding, but my parents were jerks and made me go to school. Only about a third of the school showed up, everyone's at parties watching the wedding. I can't even get updates because the school blocks all messaging and net services.

The anticipation is killing me. I love Princess Leia, I mean who doesn't? She is the only one in the royal family that isn't scary. I'm not obsessed with her or anything, but I do very much enjoy watching and reading her interviews. She also has appeared on a lot of my favorite shows, she even did a cameo in my favorite movie.

Every time she is in the public eye she seems to be doing something funny, until a couple months ago. Right after her friend Zeth died. I see why. Zeth was seen a lot with Princess Leia in the tabloids and even did a few interviews with her. She talked about him often when doing interviews by herself. Him and her main guard Orion. I think he died too. Poor girl. It was obvious that the three of them were very close.

Ever since then she has seemed to be in a bit of a depression. At first she seemed to be handling it well, as well as you can expect. She would joke to reporters or smile at cameras when she was in front of some press, but then she stopped. Over the last couple months she has gradually disappeared from the public. When she was out in the open, she wasn't happy.

There is always a sad expression on her face, well not sad. Maybe, empty. Yeah, empty is a good way to describe it. No emotion. She is hollow in every picture taken of her.

Maybe it's because Eryk's always there. The entire galaxy knows that they aren't exactly in love yet. Heck, judging by her expression during the announcement of their engagement, I don't think they will ever be. At least not Leia, Eryk's always smiling and seems happy in pictures of them together. But that could just be for the press, there has always been something off about Eryk Ando. Something about his eyes, he always looks like he's planning something.

Maybe it's nothing. None of my friends think there is anything wrong with him. In fact they have all been obsessed with him since the engagement. Especially after the wedding date was moved to earlier than it was originally planned. The date was moved a few weeks after Zeth died, when Leia started getting really depressed. The official reason is that the Emperor and Prince wanted to be there for the wedding, but needed to go on another trip soon, but everyone knows it is an effort to try to cheer the Princess up a bit. Get her out of the funk she's been in since Zeth and Orion's deaths.

Half the school is obsessed with the engagement. Not me though, I'm only a little obsessed. Most of us are following the wedding planning process online. They haven't posted anything like the rings or Leia's dress, but they have posted some of the general details. For instance, the wedding will be held on the palace's balcony where citizens can watch from the surrounding streets. The flowers will be red with some sort of berries attached. Prince Luke will be the best man and Leia's friend Liana will be her maid of honor. The balcony will be decorated with dark sheets that will be hanging from seats and poles. The sheets will also be hanging down the sides of the palace walls down onto the street. I find that strange, but I'm sure it will look cool. I've always loved Princess Leia's sense of style.

The bell rings. Thank God! I grab my stuff and leave. None of the teachers today gave any homework due to the wedding and lack of attendance, so I can leave without stopping by my locker.

The minute I walk out of the school building, I receive tons of messages from my friends. All of them say 'Turn on the wedding!' 'Is this really happening?' 'I can't believe it!' 'Fable you are going to freak out!'

I stare at the messages in confusion. What could have happened at the wedding that would make everyone freak out so much?

I look up the live news feed. All the stations are just the same, they are all freaking out, but nobody is saying why. Finally I get to a channel giving a recap of what happened.

HOLY CRAP!

Lukes POV

-that morning-

I make my way into my kitchenette for some breakfast. Unlike Leia's suite that is filled with decorations and trinkets everywhere, mine only has what I need. I don't stay at the palace enough to find it necessary to keep much around.

There are only a few things in my fridge, again unlike Leia, I don't like to have it overflowing with food. I don't see anything besides fruit, so I decide to order an omelet from the palace kitchen. Usually I would just call up the kitchen and a servant would bring the food up, but today I have a feeling to go down there myself. Probably just nerves about the wedding.

I've been concerned about this day for quite a while now. I was hoping that Leia and Eryk would grow closer while planning the wedding, but they haven't. Instead she seems to have grown even more distant, not just to him, but to everyone.

She started becoming more depressed after her friend Zeth passed away. Father, Eryk and I thought that bumping up the date of the wedding would distract her and maybe cheer her up a bit, but as the wedding started approaching, she has only seemed to grow more distant.

Planning the wedding was a disaster. Leia wouldn't pick anything when asked to, she would only respond with 'I don't care, pick what looks best.' It wasn't until about three weeks ago that she started making decisions. She has picked a new dress, planned the decorations, and a few other details.

But even with Leia's newfound excitement about the wedding, I was still worried about her. I was worried whether this marriage was going to be a big disaster. I was worried whether Leia would be miserable in the marriage.

I didn't want that.

I make it to the kitchen. I hear the chef talking to someone inside. I walk in to see that it is Leia who he is talking to, actually he seems to be teaching her how to cook something.

"Very good Princess" he says, referring to whatever Leia is frying on the stove.

Leia smiles at her creation. She looks up and sees me standing in the door, her smile immediately drops. "Hello Luke" she says with a bit of edge to her voice, "What are you doing here?"

"I came down for some breakfast."

"Couldn't you have just ordered something? Isn't it below you to come down to the serving area?"

"It should be below you to be cooking your own breakfast."

Her eyes narrowed. "I've taken up cooking lately, keeps my mind off thing, like you" she whispers the last part.

I pause for a second, not knowing what to say, "You seem to be in a better mood today. At least more like your old self."

Leia eyes me, "Is that a problem?"

"No, in fact it's refreshing. It's been a while you insulted me. Wedding jitters getting to you?"

Leia pauses for a second, "Something like that."

There is an awkward pause. Everyone is quiet until the chef says, "Well Prince Luke, what would you like for breakfast?"

I redirect my attention to him, "Just an omelet. Send it up to my suite."

The chef nods, "Yes your grace, right away." He begins putting some ingredients into a pan next to Leia's on the stove.

Leia looks up and asks after a minute, "anything else Luke?"

I snap my attention back to her, "No. I'll see you at the wedding." With that I turn around and start to leave the room.

I pause when I hear Leia say, "Goodbye Luke." The word goodbye wasn't what stopped me, it was the way she said it. Like there was something behind it. As if she wasn't going to see me again. The last time I heard her say goodbye like that was when we were little and I left on my first mission with Father. I decide to let it go and continue to my suite to eat.

-an hour before the wedding-

I make my way to Eryk's dressing room. As I enter I see that he is already dressed and is enjoying a glass of wine. I pour myself a glass and sit next to him.

"Are you ready for this? Being married I mean." I ask him.

Eryk smiles and says, "I've been ready for months now, ever since the Empire ball."

"Leia seems to be ready too. I saw her this morning. She seems, comfortable."

"That's good news. Although I'm not too surprised. She has seemed more excited about the wedding these last few weeks."

"Yes, but today she seemed different. Almost determined about something. She was kind of her old self again."

Eryk's smile faltered a second. "Oh, she was? In what way?"

"She seemed happier, like she was planning some prank that she and her friends used to play on each other or the guards. I don't know, she was cooking in the kitchen when I last saw her."

"The kitchen? Why was she cooking?" he asked confused.

"Said it helped her keep her mind off things. If you ask me, I'm just glad she has found something that makes her smile again."

Eryk nods his head, "yes that is good I suppose. Did she say anything else?"

"Just wedding jitters. I was going to go check on her before I came here, but the guards said she is already at the balcony waiting to make her grand entrance."

"Already? The wedding doesn't start for another hour."

"Don't worry. She has always gone to her entrance location early for balls and galas. Let's her prepare herself mentally. Calms her down."

"Alright then. Whatever gets her down the aisle."

Liana's POV

The wedding is about to start. As maid of honor I am the last of the bridesmaids to walk down the aisle with Prince Luke. That makes me nervous. I've never gotten to know Prince Luke, but by the way Leia talks about him, he sounds okay.

I'm more concerned about Leia. The past few weeks have been wild, heck the last how many months have been a rollercoaster. First with the arranged marriage, then Orion and Zeth dying, and now she's getting married.

I really miss Orion and Zeth. I always hung out with Zeth in school, then would often hang out with him and Leia outside of school. I wasn't as close to him as Leia though, nobody was. Orion was cool too. He has always been super nice to me and all of Leia's other friends. He was kind of the cool parent of our group of friends, always willing to help us stay out of trouble. Unless we really screwed up, then he would call our parents and make us clean or do push-ups.

Leia hasn't been the same since they died. I don't blame her, I mean she's gone through a lot. I've tried to help, but she just pushes everyone away saying she's fine. But we all know she's not. She has been a zombie the last couple months, just going through the motions of life without any emotion or drive.

Until a couple months ago. Then she seemed to perk up a bit for some reason. She replanned almost the entire wedding, venue, decorations, her dress. The staff has been running around like mad, trying to get everything ready in time.

I wonder how she's doing. Last I saw her she went into the sitting room outside the balcony where she will be entering from during the wedding. Only she is coming from that room, the rest of us are coming from another area. I was going to sit in there with her, but she said she wanted to be alone for a while. She gave us all hugs and went into the room alone, we haven't heard from her since. For some reason I can't shake a strange feeling. She seemed different when giving us the hugs. They seemed more emotional than they should have, like she was really saying goodbye.

Maybe she was, we all knew that after she was married her entire life would change. Eryk wasn't a big fan of our group of friends, never has been. Maybe he told her that after they are married, she can't see us anymore.

This thought saddens me, not just the idea of not hanging out with Leia anymore, but the idea that she would let him do that. The old Leia wouldn't have put up with this crap. She would have laughed in Eryk's face and continue doing what she wanted to do. But I haven't seen that Leia for a long time. I think she died with Orion and Zeth.

Ever since their deaths she has only done what she is told to do by Eryk or her family. She would always do what her Father commanded, but not Eryk. Before she would say some sarcastic joke or make fun of Eryk and ignore him, now she acts like his slave. She doesn't do anything without him telling her to.

I am dreading this marriage. I'm dreading it for Leia. I am dreading it for her future children if she has any. I am dreading it for the galaxy. Leia used to be their comfort. She was the only one in the royal family who the people weren't afraid of. She use to constantly do interviews or go out in public to meet citizens. They loved her quirky fun outgoing personality and style.

They will be very confused after this wedding, with all the changes Leia made. The wedding wasn't anything extravagant before, but now with the changes its, different. She added a bunch of sheets to the outside that hang from windows to the street below. They look like sleeves coming out of the palace windows because she had their sides sewn together. It didn't look bad, just strange.

Then there's the dress. The one she had before was a gorgeous black lace ball gown that with a corset top. The new one she picked was plain. That is the only way to describe it. It is basically a black tank top with a long skirt. The only thing special about it was a cool belt. It was pretty, but again, weird. I always thought she would go for more of a statement dress.

The groomsmen walk into the room to join us bridesmaids. The groomsmen consist of the couple of friends Eryk somehow has, a few of Eryk's cousins, and Prince Luke. We all get in order to walk down the aisle, with Prince Luke and me in the back. He looks over to me.

"You are Liana I assume."

I blush, "Yes, nice to meet you Prince Luke."

He just nods his head and looks towards the door, apparently ready to get this finished with. I look around. Ara is at the front with one of Eryk's cousins, he appears to be friendly because she seems to be having a fun conversation with him. Sidara and Kelsey are standing awkwardly with Eryk's friends, nobody saying a word. Then Molly and Ailey were chatting with Eryk's other cousins.

We hear music begin playing and eventually the doors open. Ara and her groomsman walk out and head towards the aisle to walk down it, the others follow along with Prince Luke and me. Everyone eventually makes it down the aisle and I take my place at the altar. Eryk and Emperor Vader are already there. At first the Emperor was going to walk Leia down the aisle, but last minute Leia decided she wanted him to officiate the marriage.

I turn so I can see Leia walk down the aisle. The room she is to come out of is at the end of the aisle. We wait for a while for the doors to the room to open and for her to give her big reveal. We wait, but nothing happens. That's strange, why aren't the guards opening the doors?

A guard walks up behind the Emperor and whispers something in his ear. The Emperors face remains emotionless and he leaves the altar with the guard. I look around at the wedding party in confusion. They all seem to be at a loss to what is going on too. Eryk and Prince Luke look at each other and then at the doors. Luke is emotionless as usual, but Eryk seems to be a bit annoyed at the delay.

A few minutes pass and another guard comes to the altar and leaves with Prince Luke. This time I grow concerned. What is going on? Is Leia okay? I look at the crowd. They are all staring at us with confused faces. There are many reporters with cameras. Some are taking pictures, but the ones that knew Leia seem to be concerned.

Eryk seems to have finally had enough. He marches down the aisle and opens the doors. I was shocked when I saw what was going on inside. On the ground is a black skirt and belt, I can tell it is from Leia's dress. Emperor Vader, Prince Luke and some guards are staring at an open vent. But the thing that stood out to me the most was a falcon feather that was hanging from the ceiling.

I knew what happened immediately after seeing the feather. Whenever Leia would rebel or do something she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing she would always make a bird with her hands. She usually did it when a guard was chewing her out about whatever she did. Once she even did it behind the Emperors back when he wasn't looking.

_Leia, Ara and I had just been caught messing with the guards communicators. It wasn't anything too bad. We just changed their alert sounds to a nursery rhyme, so whenever they got a call or message the song would play._

_But the main night guard didn't find it funny. Orion would have just laughed and told us that if we did it again he would make us do push-ups, which he has made us do before. But this guard was mad. He has been lecturing us for at least half an hour and doesn't seem to be stopping anytime soon._

_I look over at Leia and Ara. None of us were exactly scared of this guard, he was more annoying than intimidating. They looked just as bored as I felt._

_The guard turns away from us, but continues on with his rant about how we should know better and we shouldn't be messing with equipment. I roll my eyes. Guards change their alert sounds all the time. Usually to another type of beep, but still. It wasn't a big deal. All they have to do is change it back. For heaven's sake! We are only nine, we can't cause that much trouble._

_I look at Leia again. She has her hands in a bird shape and is flapping its "wings" at the guards back. Ara and I giggle at this. I even here another guard in the room crack up._

_The guard turns around, "WHAT! Do you find this funny?!"_

_Leia, Ara and I shake our heads no while trying not to smile or laugh. The guard turns back around and Leia repeats her bird hand motions. This time I let out a laugh._

_The guard whips around and glares at us, "Well since you find this so hilarious, I think I will go call your parents, that includes the Emperor Princess." He storms off into another room. The three of us and the two guards left in the room with us burst out in laughter._

"_What was this?" I ask while demonstrating the bird sign._

_Leia shrugs and answers, "A falcon. Symbol of freedom. I've decided I need a symbol that says 'I do what I want!'"_

_Ara giggles and says, "Okay Leia, whatever you say."_

_Leia smiles "What? You think it's weird?"_

"_No, it fits you. Besides we need a signal for when you are executing one of your schemes."_

Everyone in the crowd was starting to catch on to what I already figured out. Reporters started taking pictures. New castors were sending live video to the entire galaxy. The guests just stand there in awe, smiling when they finally realize what happened.

But I don't pay attention to any of that. All I can do is smile at the feather. The symbol of my friend's new freedom.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Han's POV

-5 years later-

I enter Chalmun's Cantina, the best cantina on Tatooine, at least for pirates and smugglers. I hide my blaster in my belt, the owner Wuher doesn't allow weapons inside. Wuher doesn't allow a lot of things inside, Wookiees, weapons, droids, I think he would ban everything if he could. But the only ban that is enforced is the droids.

That is good because my friend Chewbacca is a wookiee. Wuher always gives us the evil eye when we are there, but doesn't do anything. The only times we have been kicked out is when it is crowded and Chewie is "taking up space" or when we get into fights.

Chewie isn't here with me today, he had something to do. He told me what, but I wasn't listening. So I walk into the cantina alone.

There are two bartenders working today, Wuher and Tera. Tera's side is fairly crowded while Wuher's side only has a few people sitting at the bar. This isn't uncommon, Wuher is a good bartender, but Tera is great with this type of crowd. She started working here a few years ago, since then the cantina's business has practically tripled. I'm pretty sure she was underage when she began, but nobody cared enough to do anything about it. She's the best bartender in Mos Eisley, even storm troopers come here for her.

A group of about six or seven leave Tera's side, probably crewmates, and walk out of the cantina. I take one of the new empty seats.

Tera is counting the credits from the group that just left. She looks up when I sit down, she always seems to know when someone joins her side, even on the busiest nights. She always knows when someone just walks in or when someone needs a refill, which is one reason she gets so many tips. That along with her teasing personality and good looks.

It's rare on Tatooine to find girls like her, which is why she is so popular. She has found the perfect balance of traits that attracts this type of clientele. She is sarcastic and constantly teases the customers, but isn't insulting. She is smart but not obnoxious. Then she always surprises new customers because of how she looks. She is quite small with blue eyes and blonde hair. She looks vulnerable, but is actually tough enough to handle herself around this crowd.

Tera gives me a smile and says "Hey Han. What can I get you?"

"A rum sounds good right now."

"Kay just a minute" She finishes ringing in the last groups payment and starts pouring my drink. "I see Chewie isn't here, he finally get some sense and find a non-crazy pilot?" she jokes while setting my drink in front of me.

I smirk, "C'mon Tera, I'm the best pilot in this business."

"Please, I've seen you fly. I'm surprised you haven't crashed that contraption of yours yet."

"Hey, that contraption's the fastest ship in the galaxy. I've made sure."

"Could have fooled me. Have you picked a name for it yet?"

"No can't think of anything. Any suggestions?"

Tera thinks for a minute before saying "How about falcon."

"Falcon?"

"Yeah, I've always liked falcons. Free spirits, you know. It would suit a ship of yours."

"Okay I see your point, but it needs something else."

"I don't think so, that ship probably won't last too much longer in the condition it's in. Not to mention how much your flying beats it up." She says sarcastically.

I laugh, "I take care of it just fine. It's not breaking down anytime soon. It will last as long as I want it too."

"Which is how long?"

"As long as I'm breathing."

"So not much longer" a voice behind me says in another language. I turn around to see Greedo behind me with a blaster in hand hidden under his jacket.

"Hey Greedo, long time no see."

"Jabba isn't happy with you Solo. Apparently your last shipment didn't go so well."

I smirk, "My shipment went fine. It was the customer that didn't want to pay Jabba what he wanted."

"Well apparently Jabba blames you for this little disagreement, and wants to see you."

"Eh. I'll go later. I'm enjoying myself right now."

"I don't think so Solo. Jabba has made it very clear he wants to see you now. He even promised a reward for bringing you to him. So I suggest you come with me."

"No, I don't think so. Tell Jabba I will talk to him later."

Greedo pulls out his blaster and points it at my head "How about you tell Jabba…"

"HEY NO BLASTERS." I hear Tera shout at Greedo.

Greedo looks at Tera and says, "I am simply doing a …"

"Greedo don't make me come out from behind this bar." She says sternly, "How about you leave?"

Greedo is about to refuse when at the other customers at the bar stand up. One says "I think the little lady is right Greedo, how about you leave." Tera gives Greedo an accomplished smirk.

Greedo puts down his blaster and tells me, "I'll be watching for you Solo." Then he storms out of the cantina's door.

I turn around and say "Hey thanks…"

"Screw off Solo, we didn't do it for you" a pilot says while sitting back down.

Tera lets out a laugh and says, "Thanks guys, but I could have handled that myself."

"We know. Just didn't want poor Greedo getting his butt kicked."

Tera laughs again and begins pouring some drinks then handing them to the guys at the bar, "Here this rounds on the house."

"Sounds good to me" one says before taking a swig.

I sit down in my spot and tell Tera, "Hey you know you didn't have to do that either. I can handle Greedo."

She shrugs and says "Hey, couldn't lose one of my best tippers."

Wuher marches over and yells at me, "WHAT WAS THAT SOLO!"

Before I can respond Tera jumps in and says "Back off Wu. Nobody got hurt, everything's fine."

He glares at Tera "What did I tell you about calling me that."

"You told me not to, Wu."

He storms off mumbling under his breath. I look at Tera in disbelief, "Wow, one day you're going to get fired, you know that?"

She smiles and shrugs, "Please, Wuher knows that if he loses me he loses most of his business. Besides, he likes me too much to fire me."

"So basically you have this job as long as you want."

"Yup, I'll be here for a millennium."

I smile "I think I just found a name for my ship."

"What?"

"The Millennium Falcon."

Tera's POV

It is about three o'clock in the morning. Thank goodness, my shift is over. I've been working since five. All my customers finish up their drinks and pay their tabs. Tonight was a good tip night, I made a few hundred credits at least.

Han was one of the last to pay, he was currently drunk out of his mind and was stumbling around the cantina with a group of fellow smugglers. I had taken all of their keys for their ships, so they wouldn't be flying anytime soon.

Wuher finally kicked everyone out. The remaining staff and I started cleaning up our stations. I was one of the last to finish and clock out. I grabbed my tips and was about to head out when Wuher said, "Hey take out the trash."

I sigh, we have droids to do that, but I'm sure Wuher is getting pay back for the Wu comment before. I grab the two bags of trash and walk out the back door towards the dumpster.

I drop off the bags and I'm about to walk back inside when I hear a noise. I turn to see where the noise came from and was surprised to see Han walking around the alley.

I walk up to him "Hey Han. Shouldn't you be heading back to your ship? I'm sure Chewie will let you in."

Han looks at me with drunken eyes, "No, Greedo is waiting for me out by there. I know it."

I pause and think for a minute. Han may be drunk, but he is also probably right. Greedo isn't one to give up on a bounty. Han would probably get caught if he left in this state.

I sigh. I can't let him get hurt. Sure Han isn't the most noble of people, but deep down he is really a nice guy. I always enjoy when he comes in for a drink.

"Okay Han, come in."

I head back inside. Han moves to follow me, but stumbles. I catch him and he pukes down my pant leg. 'Great' I think to myself, 'I just washed these.'

I help Han back into the cantina and bring him to the back. There are three apartments upstairs that Wuher rents out to employees. I live in the one closest to the stairs, my buddy Jank is in the farthest one away, and Wuher lives in the middle one.

We pass Wuher who gives me a strange look, "What is this?"

"Greedo is probably looking for Han, and Han doesn't want to leave. I'll just let him sleep on my couch for tonight."

"Are you sure? Remember, he isn't the most moral person." Wuher says with a bit of concern in his voice.

"I'll be fine. He's to intoxicate to do anything and he'll probably have a huge hangover tomorrow. Besides I've known Han for a while now, he isn't that kind of guy."

Wuher nods apprehensively, "Okay, but just shout if you need any help. I'm right next door."

"Okay, thanks." I say and continue my journey of helping Han up the stairs.

We finally make it to my apartment, I open the door. We enter the living room/kitchen. I lay Han down on the couch and he almost immediately falls asleep.

I can smell the puke on me, so I decide to take a quick shower. I go into my bedroom and grab some pajamas, then head to the bathroom. Inside I take out my contacts and fake teeth. I scrub myself clean in the shower. The puke washes down the drain. I decide to wash my hair while I'm in here.

I get out and dry myself off with a towel. I stare at myself in the mirror. It isn't often that I see myself this way. Without any fake dentures that hide my straight teeth, no contacts that turn my eyes blue, no make-up that gives me a couple scars and changes my skin color darker while making my nose a bit longer and wider, no hair paint that makes me blonde. Just my natural self. My brown haired, brown eyed self.

I should just dye my hair permanently, but the paint surprisingly looks more natural and is less expensive. Besides, it's nice to be able to be the old me every once in a while.

I grab the paint to start recoloring my hair. Before I start I look at my face in the mirror again one last time.

The face of Princess Leia.

Han's POV

I wake up with a blinding headache. 'Crap.' I sigh and look around. I am on a couch in what appears to be a small apartment. I don't know where I am though.

I get a whiff of a foul smell coming off my shirt. 'Dang, I'll lay off the drinks next time.' I sit up and chuckle at the thought 'No I won't.'

Another person walks into the room from a small hallway. I look up to see it is Tera. She is dressed in a tank top and a pair of sleeping shorts. Her hair is a bit messy, she must have just woken up too.

"I see Goldilocks has finally waken. How's the hangover?"

"Where am I?" I ask groggily.

"My apartment. You didn't want to leave the cantina, so I brought you here. I live on the second floor above it" she answers while taking out a few things from the small refrigerator.

It takes a while for me to process what she just said. "Did anything happen last night." I emphasize the word happen.

Tera laughs and replies "You wish."

"Well, you know you didn't have to look after me."

"Eh, no big deal. Besides I wasn't going to let you get kidnapped by Greedo."

'Crap!' "I forgot about that. I need to go talk to Jabba."

"I would freshen up before you do that. You can take a shower, the bathroom's the first door on you left."

I nod and get up from the couch. I follow her instructions and find the bathroom. Like the rest of the apartment, it is very small. But it looks like Tera uses the space well, there aren't many things laying around. Everything is in a small bag beside the sink. I get in the shower and rinse off the stench from last night. I hear the door open and close. 'That's strange.' I ignore it. The shower is really tiny, I'm too tall and have to crunch down to get my face in the water. A while later I get out. I want to put my clothes back on, but I can't find them. Then I remember the door opening and closing.

"Tera! Where are my clothes?" I shout.

"I put them in the washer, they should be done by now. It's right next to the bathroom door." I hear her answer from the kitchen.

I grab a towel and dry off as best I can. I sneak into the hallway and grab my clothes from the washer Tera told me about. They were indeed clean and dry. I go back into the bathroom and put them on. I look in the mirror and run my hands through my hair before exiting the bathroom.

I walk back into living room/kitchen. Tera was sitting at a table reading a holopad while eating some pancakes. She looks up and points to another plate of food on the table and asks "Want some breakfast?"

"Yeah, thanks." I say while sitting down and beginning to eat. Tera goes back to reading and I survey the room. Like the bathroom, there wasn't much to see. No pictures on the walls, no trinkets, nothing besides the furniture and holoscreen in the corner. The furniture looked old, but was in good condition. There was nothing that showed any thought to decoration or design. I found this strange. Tera was a very outgoing person, I thought her place would be filled with things.

"Not a big decorator?" I ask.

Tera shrugged, "Don't feel the need to keep much around. You never know what might happen."

"What do you mean?"

She looks up surprised, obviously she didn't mean to say the last part. "Nothing, just forget it."

I nod and take a bite of the pancakes. 'Wow, these are really good' I think to myself. "I didn't know you could cook."

"I don't know why you would."

"True, but still these are really good." I say while taking another bite. "Where did you learn?"

"I learned from a chef on my home planet."

"You're not from Tatooine?" I ask surprised.

Tera shakes her head "No, I started working at Chalmun's the day I arrived on this planet."

"Where are you from?"

She pauses before saying, "Far away."

"Why did you leave to come here?" I ask hesitantly. I can tell she doesn't want to tell me much, but I honestly want to know why she would pick to live on Tatooine.

Tera takes a second to think over her response. "My family and I had some disagreements and I just wanted to get away. So I hopped on the first shuttle that would take me somewhere they wouldn't think to look for me" she said simply.

I nodded understandingly "Does anyone else know?"

She shook her head "Nobody has ever bothered to ask."

We finish our food in silence. I look at her every so often when she's not looking or reading. She looks different than she did a while ago. Now I notice the sad look in her eyes, were they always like that? She seems older, not by age, but by maturity. In the cantina she always seemed like she was some young girl without a care in the world.

After what she just told me I know that is not the case. She has a family out there, one she doesn't get along with. One so bad that she ran away. She said she didn't want them to find her, could they?

I notice a few other things I didn't see before, like her hands. They were all cut up and red, probably from working at the cantina. But they didn't look rough like the other bartenders on Tatooine. They looked like they have only just started to get callouses. Like they have never worked before a few years ago when she arrived here. Her skin too. She wasn't as tan as the other citizens of Tatooine. I could never tell from the lighting in the cantina, but now it was obvious.

It is weird to think that someone I thought I knew lived a completely different life than what I thought. She didn't appear to work before she ran away, maybe she is from a rich family where she didn't have to. That would explain why she had to leave her home planet so they couldn't find her. If a kid from Tatoonie ran away, they would just have to go to another town.

The door to the apartment opens and a boy with black hair walks in. I recognize him as Jank, a waiter at Chalmun's. He walks in and is about to say something when he notices me. He looks between Tera and I, then frowns. "Sorry, did I interrupt something" he asks with a hint of jealousy in his voice.

Tera answers "No, is there something you need?"

"I was going to ask you to take over my shift this morning, but I see you had _company_ last night." There is an edge to his voice. He glares at me. 'Woah this kid has a major crush.'

Tera ignores his tone and says, "Sure tell Wuher I'll be there in a bit."

I get up from my spot at the table and head towards the door, "I'll take that as my cue to go. Thanks for everything Tera."

"Sure, no problem."

"Seriously I owe you one."

Tera makes a waiving motion with her hand "Really Han, you were no trouble."

"Still, thanks" I say before walking out of the apartment.

As I'm walking down the hall I hear Jank say "SO WHAT WAS THAT?" followed by Tera laughing and beginning to explain last nights events.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Leia's POV

After explaining to Jank what happened with Han last night, I got ready for the day and headed downstairs. During the day Chalmun's served pretty good lunch. Nothing special, but we attracted a pretty decent sized crowd, especially families for some strange reason, considering the crowd at night.

Usually I would work the bar, but since I'm filling in for Jank, I'll be waiting tables today. I see a family in my section with menus and head over to the table. I immediately recognize the family when I walk up.

"Hey Mr. and Mrs. Lars! Hey Danny! Haven't seen you in a while. How have your three been?"

The trio looks up at me and smiles. Beru answers "We have been good, how about you Tera?"

"As good as ever. Can I get you anything to drink?"

Owen speaks first, "I'm fine with water thank you."

Beru is second to order, "I'll have a pallie iced tea please."

"Can do. Anything for you Danny?"

Danny, the Lars adopted son of fifteen nods shyly and says quietly, "A glass of milk please."

I smile and say, "Okay, are you ready to order or should I come back later?"

"No, I think we are ready." Owen answers. Beru and he tell me their orders then Danny gives his shyly. I get them their drinks and tell them I will check up on them later. Danny blushes when I give him his milk. He is so sweet. Beru told me last time her and Owen were here that Danny had a crush on me.

I love the Lars, all of them are very kind. The three of them come in for lunch about every two weeks. I usually try to be their server when they come in. They live on a small moisture farm out in the country. They are some of my favorite customers, Owen and Beru have such loving hearts.

Owen and Beru adopted Danny out of slavery. He was in an illegal slave ring that was stopped by storm troopers when he was a baby. Slavery was banned in the galaxy when I wasn't even one yet, so he shouldn't have ever been in that situation. But ever since the law was passed, the galaxy has cleaned up most of the slave trade. Only every once in a while do I hear of an illegal slave ring in the galaxy. The storm troopers are very good about finding them and arresting the slavers.

That is one thing I will praise father for. I may not always agree with him, but he has done a lot of good for the galaxy. He has not only stopped most of slavery, the economy is stable, and for the most part there is some sense of peace. The war against the Jedi has caused some frightening battles, but father has always had it under control.

I'm not sure how I feel about the Jedi. Father and Luke used to always talk about how evil they are, but I don't think I believe that. I've read about them, they seem to just want peace in the galaxy. That's what father wants. I should try to do more research on them later, maybe figure out what father and Luke were talking about.

I can't ask anyone about the Jedi. It is illegal to speak of them. I once brought it up one night while working at the bar and everyone scattered, afraid of being caught. That is something I don't agree with, how father instills fear into the galaxies citizens. Citizens should look to their leader for comfort and direction.

I have often found myself thinking for answers about how to change the people's views. How could I get them to look up to the government? I couldn't ever find any answers, because I didn't know why I trusted the government. The more I thought about the Empire, the more I disagreed with it.

I learned in history about the old Republic. How it was corrupt and flawed. But the thing that always got to me was the elections. Citizens used to be able to choose who was in charge of them. I thought this was a good idea. Sure there were flaws, but I liked the freedom the Republic gave citizens.

I go behind the bar to help a few customers. During the day we are sometimes short staffed, so I fill in where needed. Besides, the more customers I help, the more tips I get.

An old man is sitting at the bar. I ask him, "Hi, can I get you anything."

"No thank you Princess."

My heart stops for a minute. I try to hide my nervousness by cleaning a mug. Did he just call me princess? Does he...no that's ridiculous, he couldn't know who I am. I remember other older men coming in and calling me sweetheart or sugar, maybe it's just the nickname he decided to call me.

"Okay, well just tell me if you need anything."

"Thank you Leia."

I drop the mug I was cleaning on the counter, luckily it didn't break. "Sorry sir, um, my name is Tera."

"Your current name is Tera, yes. But your old name, your true name is Leia, isn't that correct princess."

I stare at the old man in disbelief. How did he know this? I lean forward and whisper menacingly, "Okay, what do you want. I can only give you a small payment to keep your mouth shut. How did you find out about me?"

The man didn't flinch, he simple said "I don't want any money princess, I simply want to talk to you."

"You couldn't have chosen somewhere more private? Instead of the middle of a cantina with people in it?"

"I needed to approach you somewhere I knew you wouldn't run away."

This worries me, I hiss at him _"What do you want?"_

"I was a friend of your parents. In fact I was there when you were born."

"That's a lie. My mother gave birth to Luke and me onboard a rebellion ship. The only people who were there were her, the ships droids, and a few Jedi."

I slowly realize who he is, "You're the Jedi that tried to kidnap Luke and me, aren't you? Well just so you know, you didn't succeed then, and you won't succeed now. All I have to do is scream and this room will help me."

"Calm down Leia."

"_Stop calling me that!_ Someone could hear you!" I hiss.

"I'm sorry, calm down Tera. I am not here to cause you any harm. I simply want to talk."

"Fine, then talk."

"You think that the Jedi and I tried to kidnap you as an infant. You are wrong. You're father lied. You're mother chose to give you and Luke to us so we could hide you from your father."

I stare at him astonished. "You knew my mother?"

"Yes, we were good friends. I also knew your father before he turned to the dark side, in fact I trained him. My name is Obi Wan Kenobi."

I'm speechless. The nightmare I had so many years ago flashes back into my mind.

_I get off a ship. I am surrounded by what appears to be hundreds of volcanoes. A younger version of my father is standing on the platform. We run to each other and embrace._

"_I saw your ship. What are you doing out here?" he asks._

_I answer "I was so worried about you. Obi-Wan told me terrible things."_

"_What things?"_

"_He said…that you turned to the Dark Side…that you…killed younglings…"_

"_Obi-Wan is trying to turn you against me" he says angrily._

"_He cares about us" I object._

"_Us?"_

"_He knows. He wants to help you. Anakin, all I want is your love." I plea._

"_Love won't save you Padme. Only my new powers can do that."_

"_But at what cost? You're a good person! Don't do this!"_

"_I won't lose you the way I lost my mother. I am becoming more powerful than any Jedi has ever dreamed of, and I'm doing it for you. To protect you."_

"_Come away with me. Help me raise our child. Leave everything else behind while we still can!"_

"_Don't you see? We don't have to run away anymore! I am more powerful than the Chancellor, I… I can overthrow him! And together, you and I can rule the galaxy; make things the way we want them to be!"_

_I slowly back away from father._

"_I don't believe what I'm hearing! Obi-Wan was right…you've changed!"_

_Father's face becomes incredibly angry "I don't want to hear any more about Obi-Wan. The Jedi turned you against me. Don't you turn against me!"_

_I begin to cry "I don't know you anymore! Anakin…you're breaking my heart! You're going down a path I cannot follow!"_

"_Because of Obi-Wan?"_

"_Because of what you've done! What you plan to do!" I begin pleading "Stop! Stop now…come back! I love you!"_

_Father is looking somewhere behind me. He grows angrier and screams "LIAR!"_

_I look in the direction he was staring at. A man is standing in the entrance of my ship. I turn back to father "NO!"_

"_You're with him! You brought him here to kill me!"_

_Suddenly my throat closes up. I can't breathe! All I can see is father's angry face and arm raised at my neck. Him and the man from the ship are arguing, but I can't understand them. The pressure around my throat stops. I fall to the ground. I can't move, too weak. I can still hear the two arguing, eventually I begin to understand what they are saying._

"_YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME!" I hear father roar._

"_Your anger and your lust for power have already done that. You have allowed this Dark Lord to twist your mind, until now…until now you have become the very thing you swore to destroy."_

"_Don't lecture me, Obi-Wan! I see through the lies of the Jedi! I do not fear the Dark Side as you do! I have brought peace, freedom, justice, and security to my new Empire!_

"_Your new Empire?"_

"_Don't make me kill you."_

"_Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic! To democracy!"_

"_If you are not with me, then you're my enemy!"_

"_Only a Sith deals in absolutes. I will do what I must."_

"_You will try."_

_I black out_

This must be the same Obi-Wan. The same one from my dream. The horrible dream that has haunted me almost every night.

"What are you going to do to me?" I ask scared.

"Like I said before, I am not here to harm you. I simply want to talk. Your mother wanted you and Luke to be safe. She asked me to keep you both safe, but I failed. Your father managed to find the ship I hid you two on, and took you."

I think all of this over for a minute. "What would you have done with us?"

"You would have gone to live with Bail Organa. I had arranged for Luke to live with your step-uncle and aunt. You would have both been safe from your father's eye."

"I don't have any uncle or aunt."

"Yes you do. In fact, they are sitting in this cantina. You are about to bring them their food."

My head snaps towards the Lars's table. Obi-Wan continues "You are not as alone as you feel Leia. There are people out there who care about you and will protect you."

"Do the Lars know about me?"

"They know Princess Leia escaped her wedding, but they don't know where she is."

I nod my head understandingly. Obi-Wan continues "Your mother didn't want this life for you or Luke. She wanted you both to be safe and happy. I am sorry I failed all three of you. Please let me make up for it. Come with me. I will take you to the Rebel Alliance. We will keep you safe."

I think about my decision for a while, "No."

Obi-Wan looks surprised "No?"

"I don't want that life anymore. I don't want to get involved with the Empire or the Rebel Alliance. I'm done, I can't take it anymore. I have made a new life here. Not a great life, but a new one. One away from all that. I'm sorry, but I can't join you."

Obi-Wan nods his head understandingly "I see. I won't interfere with your new life again unless you need me. I will keep an eye out for you here on Tatooine though. I owe your mother that much."

I nod "I need to go give the Lars's their food. It's been…goodbye Obi-Wan."

"Goodbye Princess" he gets up from his seat to leave.

Before he can take more than two steps I say "Wait!" Obi-Wan pauses and turns around to look at me. I continue, "What was her name? My mothers. Father refused to tell Luke and me."

Obi-Wan smiled and replies "Padme Amidala. That was her name." With that he walks out the door.

I go to the back room to compose myself for a minute before returning to bar area. I grab the Lars's food from the kitchen and head over to their table.

"Here you go guys." I say while placing their plates on the table.

"Thank you sweetheart" Beru says.

"No problem, just wave me down if you need anything." I say before leaving.

I go behind the bar. I pretend to be cleaning mugs, but I'm really watching the Lars's. My supposed aunt, uncle and cousin. Was everything Obi-Wan said true? Did the Lars's know about any of this? Did I have more family out there that I didn't know about?

Should I ask the Lars's? No. They are happy the way they are. I don't want to involve them in my screwed up life. They are kind people, they deserve to be happy. I can't ruin that for them. The less they know the better.

Luke's POV

-a few days later-

I put up my hood to hide my face and walk into a building called Chalmun's Cantina. Like most of this planet, it is dusty and looks disgusting. It is filled with pirates and smugglers, all probably crooks. But I'm not here for them.

A few days ago Father and I detected a force presence on this planet. Father was going to go alone, but I convinced him into letting me handle it alone. Besides it was probably nothing.

I walk around the cantina. I don't sense the presence anymore, but I do feel that it was once here. Only for a short while, but it was still here. I sigh, the trail ends in the cantina.

I decide to have a drink while I'm here. I sit down at an empty bar stool and wait for the bartender. The bar is filled with people, a blonde girl around my age and a man are filling up drinks behind the bar.

The girl sees me and almost drops the bottle of whisky she was holding. She sets it down and stares at the bar for a minute. She recovers and gives the other customer his drink. Then she fidgets with the tank-top and shorts she has on and walks over.

She picks up a mug to start cleaning and asks me "Hello, can I get you anything." She doesn't make eye-contact with me. Strange. Her voice is a bit stressed, but it sounds familiar.

"Getting a cold Tera? You sound kind of funny." The man sitting next to me asks.

She smiles but doesn't look up, "No, I'm fine."

I say, "A glass of Champaign."

She nods and pours the contents of a bottle into a glass, then sets it in front of me. As her hand gets closer I feel something. Another force presence. It is trying to stay hidden, but I can still feel it. Before I can do anything the man next to me yells, "HEY, AREN'T YOU THE PRINCE? PRINCE LUKE VADER?"

I silently curse before putting my hood down. The entire cantina grows silent and stare. Everyone except the blonde bartender. She is starting to look familiar.

"Yes, I heard this place has the best service on Tatooine, so I decided to stop by while on a mission for my father."

"WELL YOU HEARD RIGHT! LITTLE TERA RIGHT THERE IS THE BEST AROUND!" The pirate was obviously drunk, "HEY TERA COME TALK TO MY NEW BUDDY PRINCE LUKE HERE!"

The girl hesitates but then says "Hello Prince Luke. It is an honor to meet you." That's when I feel it. Right when she said my name. The presence, I recognize it. I have known it since I was born.

"Leia?" I say astonished.

The girls face drops, before she can say anything the pirate yells, "No, that's Tera." I ignore him.

"Leia, is that you?"

"You are mistaken sir, I'm not…"

"Cut the crap Leia, I can feel it's you."

"I'm sorry Prince Luke but…" before she can finish I use my powers to take off her disguise. Her contacts and teeth fall out. Hair paint and make-up slide off her onto the bar and floor. Leia, my sister, is standing there staring at me in shock. Her face looking exactly the way I it did when I last saw her.

"Leia, what…" I am interrupted mid-sentence by a drink in my face. I wipe it off to see Leia running towards the exit. I stop her before she can leave by levitating her body and bringing her back over to me.

I set her down in front of me. She looks at me and smiles "Hey big bro! How have you been?"

I am too furious to react to the joke. Instead I grab her arm and hiss, "You're coming with me." I drag her out of the cantina, ignoring all the shocked faces of the citizens, even the drunk pirate is speechless. She struggles a bit, but I am able to get her outside and into my cruiser.

I lock her door and go around the other side to climb into the driver's seat. Leia tries to open the door, but I locked it in a way so she can't get out. I start the cruiser and head for where my ship is landed about an hour away.

We sit in silence for the first part of the trip, then about twenty minutes in I ask "How could you do that? How could you just leave?"

"There are many reasons Luke."

"Like what?" I snap at her.

"How about the fact I didn't want to marry a psychopathic monster! Why do you care anyway?"

"WHY DO I CARE?" I scream "You have been gone for years Leia. Years! You left everything behind. Everyone who has ever cared about you!"

"SO WHAT! WHY DOES THAT MATTER TO YOU?"

"BECAUSE YOU LEFT ME TOO!" She stares at me speechless. After a minute I continue. "You left me. You cut me off, I didn't know where you were or if you were okay, you cut our connection off. You know how worried I have been over the last five years? My _sister_ disappears and I can't do anything about it."

"I left you" she begins softly first, "I LEFT YOU! YOU LEFT ME! You left me when I was five! You know how you have felt the past five years, I felt that for over a decade Luke. You never called, you never kept in contact, you never cared Luke. You abandoned me a long time ago."

My grip on the steering wheel tightens in anger. The cruiser is silent again until Leia asks, "Where are we going?"

"We're going to my ship and I'm taking you home."

At this Leia's eyes grow wide in fear and she screams "NO!" She then begins frantically clawing at her door. I try to stop her, but she is too wild to control while driving. Somehow she manages to unlock the door and tries to jump out of the cruiser while it is still moving.

I grab her shoulder and yank her back in. I stop the speeder quickly, luckily we are now in the desert. I yell at her "ARE YOU CRAZY?! YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN YOURSELF KILLED!"

Leia is sobbing uncontrollably. She keeps repeating 'no' 'can't go back' 'don't make me.' I let her calm down a bit before continuing on in a more gentle voice "Leia, what is wrong."

"I can't go back Luke. Please don't make me go back. I'll kill myself if you do!" She says through sobs.

My heart stops at her last comment. As gently as I can I ask, "Leia, what happened?"

She looks at me with tears streaming down her cheeks "You won't believe me. You never believe me."

I am at a loss for words. I've never seen Leia like this. Sure she did have meltdowns before, but not like this. She never seemed this, broken. "I will believe you. You just have to tell me what's wrong."

Leia shook her head, "No you won't. You haven't since you changed."

I pause to think for a minute. I really wanted to help Leia, but she won't open up to me.

"Don't think of me as me." This confuses her, I try to explain "Think of me as me from when we were little, before I started training. Before we grew apart. When we were actually brother and sister."

She looks at me for a long while, contemplating what to do. Tears are still streaming down her face. "When we told each other everything?"

"When there were no secrets between us" I assure her.

She stares for another few minutes before answering

"Father told Eryk to rape me."

Han's POV

I am staring at the holoscreen in disbelief. Chewie is sitting next to me in silence. We are currently seated in one of the Milenium Falcon's sitting rooms.

The news is on, they are talking about the incident that happened at Chalmun's tonight. The incident where Prince Luke revealed Tera as being Princess Leia.

I couldn't believe it. I talked to her last night at the bar. I didn't know how to react to this. I was shock, angry, confused. I guess I can't blame her for not telling me. Yeah we were friends, but I can see why she wouldn't tell anyone.

A beep goes off. I look at Chewie in confusion. That beep only goes off when someone is trying to get inside. Suddenly I hear from outside, "HAN! OPEN UP!"

I walk over to the ship's entrance and open it. I see outside two figures. One is standing by a cruiser a few yards away, and the other is banging on the side of my ship. I walk down the ramp to yell at them, before I notice who it is.

"Princess Leia, how nice to meet you. Or should I call you Tera."

She blushes and says, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you Han, but you must see my reasoning behind it."

"Yeah I get it, what do you want?"

"Remember that favor you owe me? I want to cash it in."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Luke's POV

I arrive at the Palace around noon. I knew father had a long meeting at 11:30 and I needed some time before he would start asking me about Leia. He tried contacting me after the news broadcasted my capture of her, but I didn't answer.

I land my speeder and immediately head to the security section. All the servants and guards are shocked when I pass by them, I wasn't supposed to be back for at least another week. I march into the security office and demand to see the security footage from the last six years along with the logs of when guests visited.

The guards scramble to meet my demands quickly. I recognize one of them. It takes me a minute, but I remember that he was one of Eryk's groomsmen. He is running around the office looking for something. In less than five minutes I am seated in front of a holoscreen with all the items I requested on it, in a private room.

I type in the date of the night Zeth Anderson died. Leia told me to look at the footage from the ball, right after we had our fight on the dance floor. I put in my security code, but my access is denied. I frown, I should have access to all footage.

I call one of the guards in. "Why won't this let me see the footage from this night?"

The guard frowns and says, "That's strange, it shouldn't do that. I'll get a tech droid to fix it." He walks out of the room and comes back with a droid.

The droid hooks into the holoscreen and sits there for a while fixing the problem. The guard grows concerned and says, "I don't know why it's taking so long."

"Is it my identification?"

"No, all personnel who work at the palace have access to basic footage."

The droid beeps and the holoscreen turns on with the security footage I wanted.

The guard says "I'm sorry about that Prince Luke, I will check the droid to see why it took so long."

"That is fine, it is working now." The guard nods and is about to leave the room when I add on "Oh, and thank you." The guard is shocked, it is rare that I thank anyone besides father. He leaves the room still shocked and I turn my attention to the footage.

I fast forward through the night until I see us dancing. I watch as Leia and I fight, then I storm off. Almost immediately after I turn my back, Eryk is there. He whispers something in Leia's ear, Leia shakes her head no, but Eryk manages to get her off the dance floor. Eryk pushes Leia out of the ballroom and into a hallway. I switch the footage in order to follow them. Eryk takes Leia through a few service hallways, parts of the palace I haven't even visited yet. Leia is struggling to get out of his grip, but doesn't have any success. They reach a hallway not far from the ballroom, I can still hear the music playing faintly on the footage.

"C'mon we are going to have some fun" Eryk whispers in Leia's ear so quietly that I had to use the force to hear it.

"Eryk, just take me back to the ball, I don't feel like playing games right now. Please Eryk, you're drunk" Leia whimpers. I can see Eryks grip is painfully tight on her.

"You can go back in a minute Princess." With that he pushes Leia into a room. I look for that room's camera footage, but there is none.

I call another guard in, "Why is there no video for this room?" I demandingly ask.

The guard answers nervously "That is a storage room sir, there are no cameras in there."

I fume "Get out!"

I stare at the screen for what seems like forever. I didn't need the footage to know what happened in that room. I could see Eryk's intentions in his eyes. That bastard _raped_ my sister.

Anger washes through me along with hatred and guilt. How could I have let this happen? I should have been watching, I should have seen the signs. I never bothered to ask Leia why she hated Eryk so much. I blamed it on her for being childish. I should have been there for her.

The hallway video is still playing. Eventually Leia bursts out of the room with tears streaming down her face. She runs down the hallway, back to the ball. Eryk slowly follows her with an evil smile on his face.

I follow Leia back to the ball on footage. She runs through the crowd, past me, and up to Zeth. I see him pull her into an embrace. I can't hear them, but I know she is telling him what happened. Zeth grows angry and storms to the hallway, where Eryk is still taking his time to get back to the ball.

I see Zeth run up to Eryk and punch him in the face, Leia runs up behind him and watches, still crying. Zeth throws a few more punches at Eryk, who can barely dodge most of them. Zeth is screaming "YOU SICK BASTARD! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" Zeth pins Eryk to the wall, guards rush in and break up the fight.

After the guards successfully separate the two, Zeth screams "LET ME GO!" Leia breaks down in sobs and everyone turns their attention to her. Eryk tries to walk up to her but Zeth gets in the middle and spits at Eryk "Stay away from her." Zeth puts his arm around Leia and brings her into a bathroom, where I assume he tries to comfort her and help her reapply make-up for the end of the ball where I see her again.

All those years ago I hated Zeth. I thought he was just some immature spoiled brat who was using Leia for fame. But now I'm glad he was there. He was there when I refused to be. The weight of the situation bears down on me.

'Father told Eryk to do this' I think. My head is pounding. How could father want this? What did he think this would accomplish? I have never questioned father's decisions, but I don't see any rational reasoning for this.

I look at the time, it is 1:30. Damn it, father's meeting ends at 3:00. I hurry and look at the logs. I look over the ones for when Eryk visited Leia's suite. The list was longer than I hoped it would be.

I enter in the date of Eryk's first visit and request the footage for Leia's suite. The date is a little over a week after the ball and the day after Zeth's funeral. It takes a minute for the holoscreen to give me access, but it eventually pops up.

I skip to the time Eryk is said to have entered the suite. Leia is sitting on her couch moping with her legs tucked in so she was in a ball. Her eyes are red and puffy, she must have been crying. She looked so, small. SO vulnerable.

Eryk walks into the suite and sees her on the couch. Leia doesn't acknowledge his presence.

He sits next to her on the couch and says mockingly "Hey Princess, how have you been?"

"Go away Eryk. Not today" Leia says in a small heartbroken voice.

"I thought we could spend some time together. You know, as soon to be husband and wife."

Leia glares at Eryk the best she can with tears in her eyes "You think I would ever marry you after what you did to me?"

"It's not up to you Princess. Remember, it's all up to your father, and he wants us to get married. I thought we discussed this at the ball."

Leia turns away horrified, probably having a flashback to that night. She whispers "Go away."

Eryk puts his arm around her, she tries to get off the couch, but he holds her down. "Come on Princess, I thought we were past this."

"GET OFF OF ME! I'll CALL THE GUARDS!"

"They won't help you Leia. I told you before. Your father told me to tame you in whatever way I see fit. Since this seems to be the only way for you to learn your place, well, I am happy to follow orders."

I stop the footage, not wanting to see the next part. I check a few other dates and the same thing happens. Eryk visits Leia, messes with her mind, and pushes her down underneath him.

The months of Leia's depression are beginning to make more and more sense. The emptiness in her eyes, the way she followed every order Eryk gave her, how she just stopped caring about life. Eryk made her feel this way. Like nobody cared about her, like she was some wild animal that needed to be controlled.

I pause at that last thought. I helped make her feel that way. Eryk may have done the worst part, but this was also my fault. I was never there for Leia. I never bothered to tell her I cared or that I loved her. I would just tell her to grow up and do what she was told. Guilt weighs down on me. I can't breathe.

No wonder she never told anybody. After Zeth and her head guard died, she thought she didn't have anyone who would stop Eryk. Father gave Eryk permission to do this and she probably thought I also knew of it.

I don't know how long I sit there, but eventually father is in the room with me. He tells me "I was told you were in here. Why haven't you been answering my calls? Where is your sister?"

"I let her go."

"WHAT!?" father screams.

"I said I let her go."

"Why would you do that?" father hisses.

"To keep her away from you and Eryk."

"What are you talking about Luke?" father asks.

"I think you know."

"No I don't. Why did you not bring your sister home where she would be safe?"

"She is safer now than she was here."

"What? Luke look at me" father demands.

I slowly turn my chair around so I am staring at him. I look up at his face, the face I trusted and admired my entire life. I used to be proud when people would comment about how much father and I looked alike. Now it sickens me. It sickens me to know I look like the man who ordered this torture on my sister.

Father looks at me, trying to hide his frustration. He says more gently while looking into my eyes "Luke, why isn't your sister safe here? What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about when you told Eryk to do this." I press the play button. The screen continues where it left off. Eryk is pinning Leia down on the bed and disrobing her. I can hear her pleas for him to stop, but he just whispers to her that she need to learn her place.

Realization crosses fathers face. I expect him to come up with some excuse or reason explaining himself. But he surprises me.

Father's face becomes furious. He glares at the screen and says in his angriest, horrified, most hate-filled voice I have ever heard him use

"_What does he think he is doing to my baby girl!?"_

Ruwee's POV

I yawn and stretch in the chair I am sitting in. My wife Jobal is sitting across from me in her seat reading a book.

"Getting tired dear?" she asks smiling.

"Yeah, it's about that time. How about you?"

"I am feeling a bit sleepy. It is almost eleven."

"Well how about we go to bed?"

Jobal nods and we head to the stairs. About halfway there the doorbell rings. Jobal and I looked at each other in confusion. Who would be here at eleven o'clock at night?

"You go ahead, I'll see who that is."

Jobal shakes her head "No, I'll go with you."

I nod understandingly. We both walk to the front door. On our way the doorbell rings again. I open the door to find a young woman standing there. A shaggy looking man and a wookie are a little farther back.

"Ruwee and Jobal Naberrie?" the girl asks.

I get a good look at her face. I am shocked when I recognize who it is.

"Yes" Jobal answers, not yet realizing who is at our door.

"Princess Leia?" I ask astonished. The young princess looks up at me with worried eyes. I ask her "What are you doing here?"

"I…I think I'm your granddaughter."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Jobal's POV

We are all sitting in the living room. The wookie and man are sitting off to the side, trying to stay out of the conversation. Ruwee and I haven't asked for their names yet, we have been too focused on Leia.

Leia was sitting on the couch across from the one Ruwee and I are currently on. I can't stop staring at Leia. She is obviously nervous; I am too. She is observing the room, avoiding eye contact with Ruwee and me.

"So why do you think Padme was your mother?" Ruwee asks carefully.

"A jedi named Obi-Wan. He found me a few days ago and told me" Leia answers looking down at the ground.

"I am aware of an Obi-Wan. He knew Padme when she was still alive. Did your father not tell you who your mother was?"

Leia shook her head "No. He never talks about her."

"I see."

The poor girl looked scared to death. She kept staring at her twiddling fingers, obviously not comfortable with talking to us.

I say in a gentle voice "It is okay to look at us sweatheart."

Leia hesitates but eventually lifts her head to look at us. Her face is firm, but her eyes tell us everything. She is still scared, but also looks hopeful.

I ask even gentler "Why are you nervous dear."

She looks away again "I'm sorry. It's just…I…" The man comes up behind her and rubs her back to giver some comfort. She continues "Look, I'm not lying…I…"

"We believe you dear" I interrupt her.

Leia's head snaps up, her eyes even more hopeful than before. "You do?"

Ruwee answers "It makes sense. We never did know who the father of Padme's child was, and she was very good friends with your father. Obi-Wan probably knew of their relationship and decided to keep it a secret for them. We were told that Padme's baby died with her. But obviously, that could have been a cover up."

"Do you have any pictures of her I could see? I just have one in a locket my father gave me."

I nod and walk over to the fireplace and grab a picture sitting on the mantle. It is of Padme from the last time we saw her. We were visiting her at the Senate, she was just starting to show her baby bump. I hand the picture to Leia who receives it graciously.

Leia looks at the picture for a bit, then pulls out a locket out from under her shirt. She unlocks it and stares between the inside's contents and the picture I gave her. I look over her shoulder into the locket. Sure enough, there is a small picture of Padme smiling.

"You look just like her" I whisper to Leia.

The shaggy man leans over to see the pictures and adds, "Dang, and I thought your brother and father looked alike."

Leia gives him a small laugh, the first time she has smiled all night. I almost break out into tears when I hear it, she has the same laugh Padme did. I sit down next to her, trying my hardest not to pull her into a tight hug. She doesn't seem to be ready for that yet.

"Does your father know you are here?" Ruwee asks.

Leia shakes her head "No."

"Will you be staying with us for a while?" I ask hopefully.

Leia looks at the ground again, this time looking embarrassed "I…I was hoping so. Just until I figure out what to do next. I promise I won't be here for long…"

This time I pull her into a hug. At first she is stiff until I whisper "You can stay here as long as you like." Then she quickly melts into the hug and says "Thank you." I can hear the emotion in her words.

I hear Ruwee get up and tell the man and wookie "You are both welcome to stay also, we have more than enough bedrooms."

"What do you think Chewie, stick around for the night?" the man asks. The wookie responds with a growl. The man looks at Ruwee and continues "Yeah, that would be great, thanks. By the way the names Han and this hairball is Chewbacca."

"Pleasure to meet both of you. Please, stay as long as you like. I'll escort you three to the bedrooms."

I let go of Leia and say "Go on, I'll check on you in a while." She nods and follows Ruwee upstairs with Han and Chewbacca.

Happiness swells through my body. Even though I have only known of Leia for a short while, I already love her as much as I did Padme.

Tears threaten to come down my face. It has been a long time since I felt this type of joy. After Padme died, I thought I lost her completely. But having Leia, a part of Padme, here filled my heart.

A part of me was still a bit sad though. Yes, I have found the granddaughter I never knew of, but I now know I also have a grandson out there also. One I have never met. My family was still separated, and I didn't know how to bring us together.

Ruwee's POV

I first drop Leia off at a bedroom a few doors down from mine and Jobal's. I would like her closer, but this one is bigger. I'm hoping that the nicer room will give Leia more reason to stay with us.

"Jobal and I are only two doors down the hall if you need anything. Don't hesitate to ask. There is a private bathroom in the room."

"Thank you" Leia says in a shy voice, still nervous around me.

I pull her into a hug. She is a bit tense, but eventually she returns it. It feels right holding my granddaughter, the last piece of my daughter I have left. Eventually I let Leia go and she walks into the room.

I escort Han and Chewbacca a bit farther down the hall. I point to two bedrooms and say "Here is where you will be staying. Please, make yourself at home."

Chewbacca growls what sounds like a thank you, then makes his way into a room. Han stays back. He looks over and says "Thanks by the way. You didn't have to do this."

"It is the least we can do. You gave us our granddaughter. I can't thank you enough."

"It was no problem, really. She's a great woman. She's…" he looks back at Leia's room. I can see a hint of longing in his eyes when he finishes with "great."

I pat him on the shoulder "Get some sleep son. I'll see you in the morning." He nods in reply and makes his way into the second bedroom.

I walk back down to Leia's room. She is looking through the window out into the garden. It is dark out, but the moon gives just enough light to make a stunning view; another reason I chose this room for her. I walk up next to her and put my hand on her shoulder. We stare out into the night together.

"What was she like?" Leia asks quietly.

I smile "Kind, lovely, strong-minded. Not a day goes by where I don't miss her."

"Was she happy? When she was pregnant with Luke and me, was she happy?"

"Yes. She was constantly calling your grandmother to talk about baby plans. I don't think she was ever more excited about anything in her life. Never told us who the father was though; we always assumed he was another senator. Now looking back, it should have been obvious. Your father always seemed to have feelings for her."

"So it is true. Father said they were in love and secretly married. I never really believed him before."

"I don't know if they were married. But yes, they both seemed to care deeply for each other."

"You say that like it's a good thing. Look at what has happened."

"We have you. That is what happened. Yes, many tragedies have occurred, one being your mother's death, but you are here because of their love. You and your brother. So that is two wonderful things that has come out of their marriage."

Leia stares at me with big eyes for a while, not knowing what to say. There is a knock on the door; we both turn around to see Jobal in the doorway with some clothes in her arms.

"I noticed you didn't have a bag and thought you could use something to sleep in. I brought you some of Sola and Padme's old things. There is also some clothes for you to wear tomorrow."

Leia walks across the room and takes the bundle while saying "Thank you. You didn't have to…"

"We are more than happy to. You don't need to thank us" Jobal interrupts her.

I walk up behind Leia and pat her on the back "Get some sleep, we will see you in the morning." I make my way into the hallway with Jobal.

Jobal turns around and says "Have a goodnight sweatheart."

"You too" I hear Leia say before I shut the door.

Han's POV

Jobal and Ruwee's footsteps disappear down the hallway. I decide to wait a while before checking in on Leia. She was so nervous all the way here, I wanted to make sure she was okay. But most of all, I just wanted to talk to her.

I wait about fifteen minutes before going over and knocking on her door. Leia opens it, she is dressed in a nightgown.

"Where did you get that from?" I ask, gesturing to the nightgown.

"My grandmother gave it to me to wear. Said it was my aunt's or mother's, she wasn't specific."

I nod, "How are you feeling? They were nicer than you thought they were going to be."

Leia pulls at the fabric of the nightgown and says "It's weird. I've never had family so willing to welcome me in with open arms."

"I bet. They seemed happy you were here though, that's good. Are you thinking about staying here?"

Leia slowly nods, "For right now yes. But only for a while, I don't want to be a burden."

"Please. By the way they were acting, they probably want you here forever."

"How long are you going to stay here Han?" she asks me timidly.

I pause, "I don't know. I only came here to drop you off. There isn't really a reason for me to stay, is there?" I ask back.

"I don't know is there?"

The air is tense. We both stand there in silence, neither one wanting to be the next to speak.

I think over the last few days. I remember all the meals we shared, the jokes we told, but mostly what happened only a few hours before arriving here.

_Chewie was in the crew quarters taking nap._ _Leia and I are sitting in the Cockpit talking. I am laughing at some story Leia just told me. I've found myself laughing a lot during out talks._

"_You did not dye some storm trooper's hair pink."_

"_Hey, that's what he gets for breaking my camera."_

"_How did you even do it?"_

"_Put hair paint in his helmet when he was on break."_

"_That worked?"_

"_Yeah, how do you think I learned how to use hair paint so well? I've pulled that prank on numerous people, mostly friends."_

"_That's horrible."_

_She shrugs, "It comes out with soap; I never did anything super bad to anyone."_

_It is quiet for a minute. Then Leia asks "When will we be arriving?"_

"_About four hours. Nervous?" She nods. "If you're so scared, why even go?"_

"_There are some questions I want answers to. I also just need somewhere I can think, clear my head. I just hope they don't freak out."_

"_It won't be that bad."_

"_You don't know that. My mother died giving birth to me, they could hate me for all I know. Remember who my father is."_

"_They can't blame you for any of that. Besides, everyone in the galaxy knows you are nothing like your father."_

"_You've never even met my father, how do you know I'm not like him?"_

"_Touché. Well I know you, and if your grandparents have any sense, they'll like you."_

_She stares at me for a minute "You really think that."_

"_Yeah, I really do."_

"_Why?"_

"_Because, you're a good person. Anyone can see that. You're kind, smart, caring, beautiful, you pack a mean punch when needed. Remember when you knocked out that aqualish last year?"_

_Leia lets out a laugh, "Yeah Ponda Baba, that guy's a jerk; he probably deserved it. Besides wasn't he giving you a hard time about something?"_

"_Yeah, mad I got a smuggling job over him."_

"_Of course you did. You're one of the best pilots, he stinks at flying."_

"_I thought you hated my flying?"_

_She smiled, "Please, it's just fun to tease you. You're okay."_

"_Just admit it I'm amazing."_

"_Mmmm, I wouldn't go that far."_

"_C'mon Princess, don't lie."_

"_Fine." She turns her head and looks into my eyes "you're amazing."_

_It is quiet for a minute._

"_You really think those things of me? You think I'm smart, beautiful?"_

"_Well…yeah...I do."_

_It is quiet again, a heated quiet. We just stare into each other's eyes, trying to read the other. I don't know who started it, but as time passes our faces move closer and closer together._

_Our lips are about to touch when Chewie bursts into the room howling. Leia snaps back into her seat as if on instinct. We spend the rest of the trip in silence._

The same intense silence is taking over us now. Our faces are inches apart. I answer her question from before with "Only if you want there to be."

"I do" Leia whispers, half to herself.

I lean in to kiss her, when I hear Chewie open his door and yodel. 'Damn that wookie!'

Leia's POV

Han's head snaps over to where Chewie is standing in doorway to his room. "What do you want Chewie?" Han asks annoyed.

Chewie growls. Han answers back with an even more annoyed tone "There's a bathroom connected to your room, you fleabag!"

I hear Chewie growl, as if mumbling to himself and close the door.

I blush, Han and I are still standing very close. I back away into my room "I better get to bed."

Han turns towards me and says after a pause "Yeah, I think I'll try to get some shut eye too."

He is about to leave when I ask him "So, are you going to stick around for a while?"

"Yeah, I think so."

I nod my head "Then I'll see you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow" he stares at me for another few seconds, then leaves to go to his room.

I gently close my door and turn off the lights. I lay down in the bed and stare out the window. My body is exhausted, but my mind won't let me fall asleep. All I can do is think of Han and hope I do in fact see him in the morning.

Luke's POV

I have never seen Father so furious. We are currently sitting in his office, well I'm sitting. Father is storming around the room, every once in a while punching the wall. I chose to sit in the corner, away from his path around the room.

As much as I hated him, I almost felt scared for Eryk. Father has never expressed his emotions to this extent before, usually I could only tell how he was feeling from his voice or the expression on his face. But that was only from years of living and training with him. Nobody else could ever read Father, not even Leia.

There is a knock on the door. Father stops his pacing and stands by his desk which I am sitting next to. He says in a menacing voice "Come in."

The door opens and Eryk saunters into the room. His pace slows when he sees the expressions on Father's and mine faces. He asks in a careful voice "You wanted to see me Your Highness."

"Yes I did. I have a few questions for you. But first I want you to watch a video Luke discovered." Father presses a button and a projection is presented in the middle of the room.

I turn away, I know Father decided to show some of the more graphic footage, and I couldn't stand to watch. I try to ignore Leia's screams and cries from the video. I see out of the corner of my eye father glaring at Eryk, not looking at the projection either. I turn my attention to Eryk who is staring at the video, his face expressionless.

The footage finally ends, but Eryk is still staring at where it was. Father says in a threating voice "Well, what is your excuse, because I would _really_ like to hear it."

Eryk looks up and looks Father in the face "I was simply doing what you asked my lord. You told me to tame Leia, and that is what I did."

Anger swells through me. Was he proud of what he did? I am about to yell, but Father beats me to it. "I _told_ you to try to help her mature. Not to _manipulate_ and _torture_ her."

"You told me to do use whatever way I saw fit. You could never control her, I learned from your mistakes. So I found other methods, and they proved better results that what you accomplished" Eryk challenged.

"You tried to destroy her! Make her your puppet and use her body and emotions as a toys!" Father exclaims, his voice now furious.

"Isn't that what you were trying to accomplish? You were the one that put Leia in an arranged marriage that she told you she didn't want. The only reason you chose me was because you thought I could change her into what you wanted, an obedient body that did whatever you told her to do. And you were right, I did manage to do that. Leia did everything I told her to do, everything you told her to do, just like _you_ wanted."

Father's arm lifts into the air and is pointed at Eryk who is grabbing at his neck. I know Eryk is having trouble breathing, it is not the first time I have seen Father Force choke someone. I can see Eryk's eyes widen with fear.

He struggles for a while before father hisses "I didn't want this." Father tightens his wrist and I hear a snap come from Eryk's neck. Eryk's body slumps and falls to the ground.

The room is silent. Minutes pass, the only sound to be heard is Fathers angry breathing. I stare at Eryk's body on the ground. The monster that hurt my sister is dead. The monster that I thought I had come to know well after five and a half years. I had never blamed Eryk for Leia's running away, I was always too angry with her. I had never bothered to think it was for any other reason than her immaturity.

A sense of satisfaction runs through me, knowing that the cause of my sister's torture is dead. Although I also know I can't blame Eryk for everything that is wrong, but right now I can feel safe in knowing that he won't touch Leia ever again.

I exit the room, leaving Father staring at Eryk's body in silence. I make my way to my suite and sit down on the couch.

I think over what Eryk said right before he died. Even though it was directed at Father, I know it is also true for me. I had wanted to control Leia, not in the way Father and Eryk did, but in a different way. I wanted her to be more like me, just do what we tell her to do, nothing else.

I freeze. 'Does that mean Father controls me? In Father's own words, am I _his_ puppet?' The thought makes my stomach drop. Am I just another mindless tool of father's? I think over my life, I have always done what father has told to do, never questioning him once. Until a few days ago when I found Leia; that was the first time I didn't do what he would have wanted. I didn't bring Leia home, I did what I thought was right.

I pull out a holopad and make a call. A familiar voice picks up and says "Hey Luke."

"Hey Leia. So we need to talk about a few things."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Fable's POV

"Fable! Get in here you won't believe it!"

I scurry into the living room where my fiancé Mark is sitting on the couch watching the news.

I join Mark on the couch and ask "What?"

"You remember that Eryk Ando?"

"Princess Leia's would be husband?"

"Yeah, he's dead."

"What!?"

"Yeah, apparently the Emperor killed him. Nobody knows why though."

This is strange. I feel kinda sorry for Eryk, even though I wasn't a big fan of his. Lately, the public has developed a distaste for him also. For the first year after Leia left, Eryk was constantly on the news asking for information about his 'beloved's' disappearance. Then after that he gallivanted around a few planets partying and enjoying his newfound fame. But the Emperor and Prince always seemed to like Eryk, even after Princess Leia disappeared.

"Do they have any idea at all?"

"Not yet, they are trying to find out, but apparently even the guards don't know."

Even stranger. The royal family has always been good at keeping secrets, but eventually the palace guards slip a few details to the press.

We flip through a few channels trying to find out anything else. One station said that a guard told them Eryk's death was because of something he did during his engagement to the Princess, the reason that probably caused her to leave. Why Prince Luke let her get away on Tatooine. The station didn't tell us what Eryk did though, so we moved on to another channel. Eventually other stations started reporting the same thing.

I sighed. Even though it was years ago, I still feel sorry for Princess Leia. The entire galaxy knew how miserable she was during her engagement; everyone was shocked yet somewhat glad she was able to escape. Before I just thought being in arranged marriage is what put Leia in a depression, but now I know for a fact that it was because she was engaged to Eryk.

"I wonder what Eryk could have done that was so bad the Emperor killed him." I say to Mark.

"I don't know. Whatever it is, the Emperor obviously doesn't want the public finding out. Even the guards seem clueless. Do you think Princess Leia will return after she sees this?"

I shook my head "No. If she wanted to come back, she would have returned with Luke instead of running away again. My guess is that she told Luke about whatever Eryk did, and Luke told the Emperor. That would explain how she got away on Tatooine. Prince Luke should have been able to get her back to Coruscant easily, he must have let her go."

"Too bad. I always liked her."

"Who didn't?"

We sat for a while in silence; I looked over at Mark. He had so much concern on his face for someone he hasn't ever met before. This is one of the qualities that made me fall in love with him in the first place. He truly seemed to care about others, including me. We met a few years ago in school. We were friends for a year, then I asked him out on a date. Two years later he asked me to marry him, and here we are.

Even though we decided to wait until we are both out of school to have the wedding, I have still been planning it in my journal. Surprisingly, I have gone to the failure of the royal wedding for inspiration. I always loved the Princess's taste, except for the sheets she had hanging out the windows. I still don't get why those were there.

"Our wedding won't be a disaster like theirs, will it?"

Mark looks at me shocked, "Of course not. Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. It's just…I want this to work out. I want our marriage to be a happy one."

Mark smiled and pulled me closer, "It will be. The difference between our marriage and the royal one, is that we love each other. I wouldn't want to be with anyone else the rest of my life."

I cuddle closer to him. "I wonder how the Princess is reacting to the news."

"Probably jumping for joy."

"No. She wasn't like that. She hated to see people hurt."

"True. Well wherever she is, I hope she's handling it well."

"Me too."

Ruwee's POV

I stare at the holoscreen in despair. Jobal is next to me doing the same.

"Should we tell Leia?"

I thought for a minute before answering, "No."

"Ruwee, she deserves to know."

"Jobal think about it. Eryk was the reason she left Vader. If she finds out Eryk is dead, there is no reason for her to stay with us. We just got our granddaughter, I don't want to lose her the same way we lost Padme."

"Neither do I, but we can't keep a secret this big from her. She's bound to find out, it's all over the news."

"Which she never watches. She never seems to care what is going on out in the galaxy. She is too preoccupied thinking about her life here. All she does is read in the garden or hang out with Han when she isn't with us. I don't think she has ever turned on the holoscreen or been on the net since she has been here."

Jobal sighs "I suppose your right. But I still think it is wrong to keep this from her."

A voice behind them says "I think so too." We turn around to see Han standing in the doorway.

"Han! Please try to understand…" I begin.

"I understand, and I agree with your wife. But I also agree with you."

"What?"

Han walks farther into the room and looks at the screen "Leia hasn't told me much about Eryk. But enough that I know she would never like to see him again."

"Did she tell you why she left the Empire?" Jobal asks.

"No. Nothing specific, but I can tell it was bad."

"We should tell her Ruwee. Just to give her some peace of mind" Jobal pleaded.

"I can't lose our granddaughter Jobal" I say sternly.

"Han what do you think?" Jobal asks.

Han thinks over his answer for a while. "Leia is just starting to figure things out. Things that I think she has been dealing with for a long time. Maybe she will be ready soon to talk about them. She seems happy, I don't want to ruin that. If she finds out about this, she might return to her father and brother. I don't want to lose her either."

"So it's settled. We won't tell her. Not now at least."

Leia's POV

The sun is shining bright today. Han and I decide to go to a valley my grandparents showed us a few days ago. Not many people visit it, so I won't have to hide under a cloak the entire time.

We asked Chewie if he would like to join us, but he told us no. Chewie doesn't care for the creatures that roam around the valley.

Han and I spend a few hours walking around, swimming, and talking. We have a picnic lunch that my grandmother and I prepared, then Han fell asleep on the blanket.

I sigh at the sight and take out a book. I wasn't surprised Han fell asleep, he usually takes a nap after lunch. We haven't talked about the almost kiss we had. Instead we have both pretended it never happened, well not completely. We are both friendlier that we were before. It just feels so natural to be with him. I sigh again and return my attention to the book in my hands.

The book I'm reading is a history book I found in my grandparents library. It intrigued me because of the date it was written. It is from before the Empire began, before all the textbooks changed from supporting democracy, to hating it. This is the second book I have read on the subject since arriving here.

I found the content interesting. All my life I heard about the downfalls of the Republic and all the problems it had. This book acknowledges the problems, but also highlights the good qualities of the Republic. Things I never heard about before.

My favorite part about the Republic was still the citizens voting. It just made sense to me how citizens could choose their leaders. Sure they might not always make the correct decision, but they should have the right to make it.

I thought about father and the Empire. I didn't think father was a bad leader, I actually agree with a lot of his rulings and decisions. He honestly is doing what he thinks is best for the galaxy.

But that doesn't make him always right, even the mighty Emperor makes mistakes. I can sure think of a couple.

The Empire has its benefits, but I just think the Republic has more. The biggest is the freedom the Republic gives citizens, something the Empire just cannot do.

Han stirs from his slumber. I close the book and put it back into the bag I took it out of. Han sits up and blinks a few time, his eyes adjusting.

"Hey sleepyhead."

"Where are we?"

I laugh, "Still in the valley. You fell asleep after lunch."

"Oh, sorry about that," he says guiltily.

"Don't be. I just read while you were asleep. It was nice."

Han smirks at me, "You and those books."

We sit and watch the valley for a while. A few beasts are roaming around the pond. It was peaceful.

"Your grandparents really know how to pick a place don't they." Han says.

I smile, "Yeah. They said my mother came here a lot."

"I would too if I lived here."

"They also said she took my father here, before they were married."

Han is silent.

I continue, "I wonder if this is where they fell in love? If they were in love."

"I thought you said you dad…"

"My father lies a lot." I snap.

"He wouldn't lie about that. Love's a big thing."

"He never seemed to think so. He tried to force me to marry someone I didn't love. Why wouldn't he do the same to my mother?"

Han is silent again. He asks "How did you do it? Escape I mean."

I chuckle, "It's a long story."

"We have time. C'mon I want to know. How did you get out of that funk you were in?"

I look over, "You really want to know?"

"Yeah."

"Fine."

_My dress is displayed in the middle of my closet along with two other ones. I told the dressmaker that I only needed one, but she told me to keep the others in case I changed my mind. I doubt I will though, I don't care enough to change my mind._

_That has been my attitude about everything lately, I don't care. I don't care about the dress, I don't care about the decorations, and I don't care about the wedding in general. I just don't care._

_As the big day draws closer and closer, my dread grows bigger. I don't know why though, Eryk treats me horribly now, it will just be the same when we are married. At least when we are finally married, Father and Luke will leave again and I won't have to deal with them every day._

_I decide to clean out my closet; something I do every few months. Get rid of anything I don't wear anymore or have grown out of. In this case I'm getting rid of things I am too small for; I don't eat much anymore so now my clothes are too big. I also throw out anything with short sleeves. I have to wear long sleeves so nobody notices the bruises._

_I finish a bit early and decide to go through my jewelry; I haven't done that in a couple years now. I get rid of a few necklaces and earrings I haven't worn in ages._

_I reach into one of my jewely boxes and pull out a locket. I'm shocked when I see it. It is the one father gave me; I haven't looked at it in years. I wonder if Luke still has his._

_It takes a few tries, but I finally mange to get it to open. Inside is a picture of a woman father claims is my mother. I couldn't be sure before, but after the nightmare, I know it is her._

_She is smiling in the picture; was she really this happy when she was alive? She was married to father, so I doubt it. He probably forced her, just like he is forcing me to marry Eryk. I'll never know though, she is dead now and the only people who knew of their marriage was her and father._

"_Did you dread your marriage like I am dreading mine?" I ask the locket. I almost expect an answer, but don't receive one as expected._

"_No, you look to happy. I don't think I could fake a smile like that right now if I tried."_

_I didn't know much of my mother, just that she died after giving birth to Luke and I. Probably from how father choked her in my nightmare. Did she have to deal with that often? No. She said earlier in the nightmare that she loved him. She was shocked at how he was treating her that day. It must not have happened before._

_I thought about my upcoming marriage with Eryk. Was I going to let him do that to me? No. I would put a stop to it._

_My stomach drops; I do let him do that to me I think to myself. I let him mess with my head and hurt me, just like father did to my mother, and now she's dead. I'm going to end up just like her._

_I didn't want to die. I may not be happy with my life, but I don't want to die. I'm still young, I have a lot of years left._

'_Years with Eryk as my husband. What kind of life is that?'_

_I sigh. This had to stop. What was I going to do, be miserable my entire life? No. I had to stop this._

_Father won't believe me though. I brought up looking at the security tapes in my rom once, and he scoffed. Luke isn't any help either. For the hundredth time today, I wish Zeth and Orion were here. They would help me get out of this._

_That's when it hits me. I'm on my own, I have to do this on my own. My hopes almost crumble at the thought. I haven't ever done anything by myself. I always had friends there to support or help me. Sure, I have a lot of friends who would help me now, but I don't want anyone knowing about what Eryk is doing to me._

_I sit down and look at my mother's picture. In my nightmare, she stood up to father. When she was at her most vulnerable, she stood up to him. I can do the same._

_I look over at the wedding dresses. 'The one on the right looks easy to alter.'_

_-wedding day-_

_I hug all my bridesmaids and walk into the entrance room. My heart aches knowing it is the last time I will see them, the last I will see anyone from this life, hopefully._

_Inside the room I am alone. After the door closes I immediately detach the skirt of my dress. I tailored the skirt to easily slip off, revealing a pair of shorts underneath. I chose not to have a veil in my hair, just a simple bun. Nothing that will catch anyone's eye. The only decoration in it was a falcon feather, which I hang from the ceiling. A little message to my friends._

_I had already loosened the vent hatch a few days before, then made sure it was still loose this morning. I yank it open, trying not to make a sound, and start crawling. It would take me longer, but I had also hid a few hover-hands and feet in my shorts, a gift from Ara. They allow me to gently glide on any surface, no matter how flimsy. I just hover a few inches above it and move forward._

_I make it to my destination, a cleaning closet, one with a window. A window that has a sheet hanging out of it._

_In the closet I have a backpack and a change of clothes. I put on the pants and cloak. The top of my dress is simple enough that nobody will think it fancy or out of place in the crowd of citizens._

_I open the window. The sheet is arranged in a tube form. I told the decorators I wanted to hide the windows and came up with this. They thought it strange, but didn't question me. One of the perks of being royal._

_I turn on my hover equipment and gently begin gliding down the sheet tube. I go slow, making sure not to touch the sides and alert a traveling eye to my presence._

_I can sense that I am almost to the ground when I hear voices. I see that there are a few teens and children playing at the bottom of the tube, 'Crap.'_

_I wait for a while, trying to think of a plan. But I don't have to. A scolding voice yells at the minors and the tube is soon empty._

_I make it to the bottom. I take out of my bag a pair of contacts and put them in to turn my eyes blue. I pull my hood over my face more. I creep out from under the sheet, hoping nobody notices me. I am thankful the others were in here now, because I just look like I'm a straggler from their group. Nobody pays me any attention, except for a couple mothers who roll their eyes, obviously not recognizing me._

_I look around, the crowd is staring at the palace; the wedding must be beginning soon. Perfect, that means I can leave soon. I know that it would look strange for a single woman to leave the crowd and walk away before the wedding even begins. I just have to stay hidden until they discover I am not in the entrance room. Then the guards will begin ushering the crowd away._

_There are projections around the palace showing the altar. I can see that almost the entire wedding party is there. I watch as the Luke and Liana take their places and look over to where I should be entering. I watch everyone's confusion as I don't enter. Father disappears, eventually followed by Luke. Eryk finally grows frustrated and storms out of view. I hear a gasp and the projections turn off._

_The crowd I am in is looking around, also confused. A bit later I notice all the guards listen to their coms, then begin ushering people away. 'Yes. Everything's going as planned.' Father, Luke and Eryk probably think I'm still in the palace hiding somewhere._

_I follow the crowd away from the palace; I take a quick look back. I may have hated the last few months, but I did have many good memories of living in the palace. I treasure the years I had with Orion, Zeth and my other friends. I will miss my suite, the place I will probably always think of as home. I'll miss Zylas and the rest of the staff. Heck, I'll even miss the guards, even the ones that yelled at me when I was little and did something naughty._

_Those times were behind me now. I knew there was no going back, not after today. Even if I returned now, things would be very different. For the first time in my life, I am completely on my own._

_I turn back around and head to a land shuttle. I give the driver a credit and take a seat. It takes about half an hour to get to the shuttle station._

_When there, I make my way to the bathroom. In a stall I apply some make up and put some fake teeth in, trying to hide my appearance a bit more._

_A ticket machine is off to the side. I walk over and look at the available flights of this planet. I buy a ticket for the ship going the farthest away from here_

_Tatooine._

I finish my story and look over at Han who is staring at the pond off in the distance. He is quiet for a while before looking over and only responding with

"Dang!"

Luke's POV

My communicator goes off. I look at the screen and see it is a message from Leia.

'Hey, I've decided to stay here for a while longer. I'll keep you posted.'

I sigh. I didn't expect Leia to return home right away, but I was hoping she would soon. It has been two weeks since I dropped her off at that smugglers ship; one week since Eryk died. She hasn't said anything about Eryk or returning home.

Leia also didn't tell me where she was going. Just that she would keep me informed about how she was doing. Apparently she likes wherever it is, because she doesn't seem to want to leave anytime soon.

I thought Eryk's death would give her some motivation to return, but she never brings it up. I was going to ask her about it, but decided I didn't want to push her on that subject. When she was ready to talk, she knows I'm here to listen. She also knows father believes her now, but she doesn't seem to put much value on his acceptance anymore. I don't blame her.

I am currently sitting in my private chambers at the palace. It is night outside, and the only light I have on is a reading lamp next to the couch I am sitting on. I am about to respond to Leia, when I feel something. Another presence is in the room, an unfamiliar one. I can feel its hatred oozing out, not directed towards me, but towards my communicator.

I discreetly pull out my lightsaber, and get up from my seat. The presence hiding in the room, it is behind me. I turn around and do a quick sweep of the room with my eyes, I see nothing.

"I know you are here. Come out and we can talk."

I wait a few minutes, eventually a figure emerges from the shadows. It is a woman with red hair dressed in all black. She is glaring at me furiously.

"What are you doing in my chambers?" I ask.

"I needed some information. You were the only one I could think of who would have it."

"What information?"

"None of your business."

"Well since you need my help, I think it is."

She smiles evilly, "I never said I need your help Princy."

I'm taken aback by this comment. Nobody has ever called me by any nickname, except for Leia when we were children. But never a citizen or enemy.

"Who are you?"

"Mara."

I wait for a last name, it never comes.

"What do you need Mara? Who are you working for?" I ask cautiously.

"I don't work for anyone, not anymore at least."

"Look, if you are trouble, I can help."

She laughs "You don't want to help me."

"Why not?"

She steps closer. I couldn't see her well before, but now in the light I can see her face more clearly. She is quite beautiful, even with the angry glare on her face.

"Because you won't like my mission" she smirks and adds, "It will hurt someone you love dearly."

I ignite my lightsaber and hiss "What are you planning?"

She simply smirks and says, "I'm just planning on taking out the person who killed the person I cared about the most."

"Who was that may I ask?"

"You should know. You saw him die only a week ago."

"Eryk?" I ask blankly.

"Who else?"

"Look, I don't know how you know Eryk, but I can tell you he didn't deserve to live. He has done bad things, horrible things." I start.

"I know what he has done. I helped him do it," she spits back at me.

I angle my lightsaber in attack mode while asking, "What?"

She smiles evilly and says, "You see. Eryk never planned on staying with your petty princess. After a few years, she was just going to die of some horrible disease. An incurable one." She says the last part as if it is a joke, but I know she is serious.

"Why would he do that?"

"Easy. So he could have power, influence, money and not have to deal with _her._" She says with a jealous hatred in her voice.

I stare for a minute before understanding. "You said earlier that you cared about him. How much?"

Her gaze turns fierce, "None of your business!"

"You loved him didn't you?"

"I said…"

"You thought that once Leia was out of the way, he would marry you." She stares. "He promised you, didn't he?"

"It doesn't matter now. He's dead, and it's all your family's fault!"

"He would never have married you Mara. He used you, just like he tried to use Leia. He would have eventually abandoned you."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do. Because I know that he wouldn't kill Leia. He knew that if she died, he would have nothing. Everything he would have gotten from us, would have been taken away. He needed her alive."

Mara's eyes have grown huge. She looks broken, just like Leia did in the cruiser on Tatooine. Mara says in a small voice, "You're lying."

"No I'm not. He needed Leia alive. Why do you think he tried to control her? If he was planning on killing her, he wouldn't have bothered with messing with her mind."

Mara's face was hollow. I could see the gears in her mind working through everything I had just told her. After a while she says

"He would have done it you know, gone through with our plan. It would have worked too, if your little sister hadn't ruined it by running away. He would have killed you, your father, and then your sister. Making him the only living heir to the throne. Then make me his queen."

I tighten my hold on my lightsaber. "It wouldn't have worked Mara. He wouldn't have been able to kill us all" I say in a steady voice.

Her glare returns, "Why not, he killed two before without my help. Now I can kill the person who killed him."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"Because Princey, I want you to watch." She leans in closer, "I want you to see your entire family and world crumble around you."

I swing my lightsaber at her, but she escapes into the shadows. I try to feel her presence, but she has already disappeared up the vents. 'So that's how she got in.'

I reach for my com, and ring up Father.

"What is it Luke?" I hear him say from the other end groggily. It is late, I probably woke him up from his sleep.

"There is an intruder. She's after you."

"What?" That seemed to wake him up. "How do you know?"

"Long story, but I know she is after you. Be ready."

"Fine. But I want you to stay put, don't come try to help me. Stay safe. Alert me if you feel them coming."

"I will. But alert me too if she comes for you."

"Luke, I don't want you running into danger just to save me."

"Father" I say sternly.

He sighs over the line, "Fine I will tell you. But no coming to my rescue."

"Fine." I lie.

The alert goes over the security system. It goes off for hours. Guards are searching everywhere for the intruder, but can't find her. She just disappeared into thin air.

I wait for Father's alert, but it never comes.

Morning finally comes, and the guards determined the intruder got away. I decide to try to get a quick nap in, but have little success. All I can think of is the woman with the red hair. She was, compelling, intriguing. Even when she was speaking of killing my family, I found her interesting. She seemed lost, confused. If I could only convince her about Eryk, she would be a good person I feel.

I can't though. I promised Leia I would never tell anyone other than father about what Eryk did to her. I plan to keep my promise, it's the least I can do for her.

But how can I convince Mara about Eryk. I know we will meet in the future, I can feel that our paths will cross again. There is good in her, I can see it in her eyes. I just need to show her the right path.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Leia's POV

My room begins feeling more cozy as the weeks have passed by. It took a while to get used to my grandparents' home, but now it feels natural to be living with them.

It has become obvious that they both love me dearly, which is a weird experience. It feels strange knowing two people love me simply because of blood relation. Well, I'm sure father and Luke cared about me, but it was hard to believe that most of the time. I didn't doubt Jobal or Ruwee's affection in the slightest.

My days mostly consist of reading or spending time with Han, Chewie and my grandparents. I have been reading more political books, intrigued by the new information I didn't have access to before. I often help my grandmother cook or garden. My grandfather loves to play card games or discuss one of his many adventures from before his retirement, which I eagerly listen to.

Han and Chewie seem to be settling in too. They didn't plan on staying for this long, but I know Han wants to stick around because of me. The thought makes me blush. I could tell Chewie would get a bit restless from staying in the same place for so long, but hasn't complained. My grandparents don't seem to mind Han and Chewie staying here, they actually seem to be enjoying having a full house. But I often see Han and Chewie doing labor around the house, trying to make their presence more desirable.

A week ago a woman arrived, my grandmother claimed her to be my aunt Sola. My grandmother had told Sola about me, and Sola wanted to meet me herself. At first it was a bit awkward, but we soon warmed up to each other. Unfortunately she had to leave after a couple days, but told me she would visit again, next time with my cousins. Another new experience for me, having an extended family interested in knowing me.

Things were going great, better than they have been for a long time. I didn't hate living on Tatooine, I had a fine life, but it was nice being with my grandparents.

I kept in contact with Luke a bit. I didn't go into much detail when talking to him, he only knows that I am doing well. He explained to me about how father didn't authorize Eryk to do what he did, but that didn't change my mind on not returning to the palace. I wasn't ready for that.

I am currently sitting out in the garden by myself, one of the only places I can be outside and not attract attention from neighbors. I had just finished a card game with my grandfather, Han and Chewie. It didn't end well, Han and my grandfather ended up fighting over how to play. I left halfway through the argument, done with listening to them. They are fine now, I can hear them laughing inside the house. I was going to join them again, but it is such a beautiful day that I didn't want to go back indoors.

I grow a bit tired and is about to fall asleep under one of the trees, when I feel another presence in the garden. I look around, but don't see anyone. Strange. I ignore it, it is probably a neighbor walking by the wall. I close my eyes again and try to settle my mind. Then I hear someone say next to me

"Hello Princess."

My eyes fly open and look towards the location of the voice. Sitting next to me is Obi-Wan. I sigh

"Hello Obi-Wan. You scared me for a second."

He gives a small smile, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."

"It's quite alright. How did you find me by the way?"

He chuckles, "I thought you would come here after I saw how you reacted to discovering you connection to the Lars. How have you been?"

I smile "Good. It's been nice here. I've had a lot of time to think."

"Think about what" he asks.

I shrug, "Everything I guess."

"Well I came here with another thing for you to think about. It is about joining the Rebellion."

I sigh, "I told you last time Obi-Wan. I'm don't want to get involved with that."

"I thought you might change your mind after meeting your grandparents. I guess not."

"I'm sorry Obi-Wan, it's just…" I trail off.

"I understand Leia, I truly do. I'm not going to force you into this, it is a big decision. But if you ever change your mind, our base is on the planet Hoth. Just approach the planet, I will know if you are coming."

I stare at him wide eyed, "You trust me with that information?"

"Yes, I do. I must return to Hoth now, but remember my offer."

I nod my head yes, "I will."

He smiles, "It was nice to see you again Leia. Hopefully it will not be the last time."

"Goodbye Obi-Wan."

I watch him leave the garden and disappear out of sight. I think over what he said. Should I join the rebels? I could at least see what they are about, see if I agree with what they are fighting for.

_-that night-_

After the five of us in the house finished dinner, we all decided to play the card game again. This time Han and Grandfather discussed the rules _before_ the game began. We played for a few hours before Chewie and my grandparents decided to go to bed, leaving Han and I alone on the couch in the living room.

I asked Han if he wanted to watch the holoscreen, but he quickly said "No!"

I wasn't exactly shocked by this outburst. Everyone in the house has seemed to try to steer me away from the holoscreen or web. I didn't notice it much at first because I don't use the objects

often, but after the fourth time it became obvious they didn't want me using the electronics.

"Why does everyone seem to freak out when I ask them to watch the holoscreen?" I ask irritated.

Han thinks for a minute then sighs, "Leia I need to tell you something."

"Oh Geez. That's never a good line."

"Well, it might be in this case. It's about Eryk Ando."

My body tenses "What about Eryk?"

"He died a few weeks ago." Han says gently.

"What!?... How?" I stutter.

A menacing voice behind us says "You killed him."

Han and I whip around to see a red-headed woman standing in the doorway

Han gets up and points a blaster at the woman. 'Geez, Does he always carry that around?'

"Who are you?" Han barks.

The woman smiles, "Don't worry pretty boy I'm not here for you. I'm here for the Princess."

"Pretty boy?" Han asks confused.

I ignore him and stand up while asking the woman, "How did you find me?"

"Your brother should really try to hide his communicator's signals when trying messaging someone in hiding."

"What do you want?"

Her smile turns into a glare, "I want you to pay for what you did to Eryk."

"I don't know what you mean. I have never done anything to Eryk besides leave him."

"_You_ are the reason he is dead! The Emperor killed him because of _you!_"

"What! My father killed him?" I ask shocked.

"Who else?"

I look over at Han, who is still pointing his blaster at the woman. "Did you know about this?" I ask in disbelief.

Han looks over guiltily, "We were going to tell you"

"We? Did my grandparents know about this too?"

"Yes, but we decided you weren't ready to know yet…"

"ENOUGH BOTH OF YOU!" the woman yells at us.

The three of us hear footsteps running down the hallway, a few seconds later Chewie and Ruwee are entering the room with blasters 'Does everyone but me have those lying around?' Jobal is a few feet behind them.

"Who are you?" Ruwee spits at the woman.

Before the woman can answer I ask angrily "Did you know about Eryk? Did you know my father killed him and not tell me?"

Ruwee's face drops "Leia, try to understand, we didn't want to lose you…"

The woman interrupts "That's too bad, because she won't be here for much longer." She pulls out a blaster of her own and points it at me.

Han pushes me behind him, "I suggest you leave lavahead."

"Great comeback" the woman says rolling her eyes.

I step out from behind Han and approach the woman. Han tries to stop me by grabbing my hand and saying "Leia, don't."

"Han! I worked at Chalmun's Cantina for five years as a bartender. This isn't the first time someone has pointed a blaster at me." I snap at him. He backs off.

I return my attention to the woman and carefully ask "Why do you want to kill me?"

She smiles smugly, "Just finishing our plan."

"What plan?"

"The one Eryk came up with. Unfortunately it didn't turn out exactly as expected."

"What do you mean? How long has Eryk been planning whatever this is?"

The woman smiles evily, "Really Princess. You think everything that happened during your engagement was a coincidence? I thought you would be smarter than that."

Ruwee asks sharply "What are you talking about?"

"You're talking about Zeth and Orion, aren't you?" I answer for the woman.

"Oh, so you're not a complete idiot. Yes, I'm talking about your little boyfriend and guard. Eryk couldn't have them getting in the way."

"_What_ did he do to them?" I command from her.

"Well the guard wasn't hard to get rid of, Eryk just hired a friend of mine to shoot him. That is actually how we met."

"How romantic" I spit.

She ignores my comment and continues "Then he simply put a few poisoned bananas in your fridge. Nothing that would cause any harm, just build up in you boytoy's system. Then would react when it came in contact with the right arrangement of chemicals, which he slipped into the boys drink at a ball."

My world seems to come crashing down. I had always found Orion and Zeth's deaths strange, but just thought I was being paranoid. I had my suspicions of Eryk being behind Orion's death, but had no idea of how he could have killed Zeth. Now I knew I was right all along. Eryk killed both of them to get to me; Zeth and Orion died because of me.

I can feel tears burning my eyes. The woman notices and snidely says "That's right Princess, this is all your fault. You caused them all to die, the boy, the guard, Eryk."

"Leia! Don't listen to her. None of this is your fault. Eryk did all that, he did it to himself." Han says behind me.

"I didn't want anyone dying because of me" I say in a small voice. A few tears escape my eyes.

"Listen to the girl, mophead. She knows she caused this. If she had just been a good little girl and cooperated with Eryk, nobody would have gotten hurt."

"Why do you care?" I ask quietly.

Her glare hardens, "Because if our plan had gone correctly, I would be queen right now."

I grow confused, "What exactly did Eryk tell you?"

"He explained his entire plan. Keep you happy for a few years, kill your brother, kill your father, and finally kill you. Then he would be emperor, and I his queen." She smiles.

Sympathy for this woman overtakes me. "Eryk lied to you. He wasn't planning on 'keeping me happy' then killing me. If I died he didn't have any access to the crown, even if my father and brother were already dead. He wanted to manipulate me, just like he manipulated you."

The woman's face returned to a glare, "Eryk wasn't _manipulating _me" she hisses.

"Yes he was. He was using you, just like he used me."

I hear Jobal behind me, I almost forgot she was there. "Leia, what are you talking about? What did Eryk do?" she asks gently.

I stare Mara in the eyes and answer "He raped me. He raped me, and he messed with my mind every chance he had."

"YOU'RE LYING" the woman screams, her grip visibly tightening on the blaster she is holding.

"I'm not. Eryk wanted to brake me, and he did."

Han puts his hand on my shoulder and says quietly "Leia." I can hear the concern in his voice. I shake off his hand and continue

"He turned me into his servant, I did whatever he told me to do. He did the same thing to you, just in a different way."

The room goes silent. The woman's eyes are wide with shock. We stare at each other for what seems like an eternity, I can tell by her face that she believes me.

"I I I…I didn't…kn…I I" she stutters.

"Nobody did. Eryk made sure I would never tell anybody."

"I…" she begins, but then sprints out of the room. Chewie runs after her out of sight. Everybody else stays put, staring at me with sympathetic eyes.

Han comes up to me and pulls me into a hug. I fight him and he lets go. Chewie reenters the room and growls "She's gone."

Jobal walks up to me, tears in her eyes, "Leia, why did you not tell us?"

"Why didn't you tell me about Eryk's death? Why didn't you tell me my father killed him?"

Ruwee walks up and says gently "We didn't want you to leave us and return to the Empire."

"I left for more reasons that Eryk! You should have told me!"

"I was trying Leia" Han says.

"Were you going to tell me that my father killed him?"

"Well, yeah maybe. I don't see how that matters though, the important part is that Eryk's gone. He's gone, he won't hurt you again. Your father doing it doesn't matter."

"That is the most important part! My father killed him because of me! Another person dead because of me! I may have hated Eryk, but I would never wish death on anyone, especially if it's because of me." I break out into sobs.

Jobal pulls me into a hug and whispers to me "It's not your fault sweetheart. I'm so sorry, we should have told you. We just didn't want to lose you too."

It takes a while but I eventually calm down. I tell them "Look I get it, I really do. But I deserved to know!" My grandmother leads me to the couch to sit down and calm myself a bit more.

Grandfather kneels before me and says, "I'm sorry too Leia. It is my fault we kept this from you."

"Same" Han says.

I look over at Chewie, expecting him to add on. Instead he puts his hands in the air and growls "Don't look at me! They don't tell me anything either!" Even while crying, I can't help but laugh.

It is silent for a while, then Grandma asks "She said she found you from your brother's communicator. You've been in contact with him?"

I nod, "Yes, just a bit."

"Is he planning on coming here?" her voice sounding hopeful.

"No. He just wants to know that I'm okay. He doesn't even know where I am."

"Oh" my grandfather says, a bit of disappointment in his voice.

I smiled. It's nice to know that my grandparents care about Luke also.

_-a week later-_

I step off the Millennium Falcon into the base with Han and Chewie next to me. Most of the people who were working when we landed are now staring at us.

I rub my hands together. Even though I am wearing many layers, I'm still getting used to the cold air. Han seems to be experiencing the same thing.

Obi-Wan walks up to us, "Hello. Nice to see you again Leia. You two must be Han and Chewbacca."

"Pleasure" Han mumbles.

"I am glad you decided to come Leia."

"I'm just here to see what this is all about. I don't know if I'm going to stay or help." I tell him.

"I think we can convince you of our cause" he replies. "Follow me, I want you to meet someone."

Han, Chewie and I follow Obi-Wan through the base.

I told Han, Chewie and my grandparents the day after the woman's visit about wanting to go to Hoth. My grandparents weren't happy about it, but understood my interest in going. I told them I would keep in touch, and that eased their minds, but I could still see the sadness on their faces.

Han told me right away that he was coming with; Chewie didn't really have any say. We left Naboo a few days later and headed to Hoth.

I wasn't sure what Obi-Wan meant when he said he would know if I was coming, but somehow he did. When we got closer to the planet, a signal was sent to our ship showing us where to land. A voice also came over our com system and asked for our identification, which is how Obi-Wan knew Han and Chewie's names.

I wasn't sure what I would find when I got here. All I knew was that there was a base and Obi-Wan was here. I was a bit worried, but trusted Obi-Wan enough.

Along the way to wherever Obi-Wan was leading us, we came across a small green alien of some kind.

"Princess Leia, you must be" he said.

"Uh. Yes." I reply.

"Princess this is Master Yoda my colleague. He is a big leader of the Alliance." Obi-Wan introduces.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Master Yoda."

The Jedi smiles "Polite this one is."

"So is this who you wanted us to meet?" Han asks Obi-Wan.

"Well yes, but I also want you to meet someone else. Someone the Princess will very much like to see."

Obi-Wan opens a door and gestures for me to go inside. I walk into the room and freeze when I see who is inside.

"Mother?"


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Luke's POV

My communicator goes off in the middle of my training session with Father. I could tell by the ring that it was Leia who was calling me. At first I ignored it, intending on calling her back when Father wasn't in the room; he doesn't know I am in contact with Leia. But then she kept calling over and over again, the communicator never stopping ringing.

"Luke, go answer that thing before I smash it into bits" Father says obviously irritated. "Who is it anyway? Some girl I don't know about?"

"Something like that" I answer. 'Well it's not a lie' I think to myself.

Father looks surprised "Oh. Well answer it, and tell her not to call during our training sessions again."

I nod and grab the communicator. I wait until Father is distracted training with a few droids before leaving the room and answering it.

"Leia, what's wrong? Are you okay?" I ask worriedly.

"I'm fine and apparently so is our mother" Leia angrily says on the other end.

"What? Our mother is dead." I state utterly confused.

"No she's not. I just saw her; I talked to her. She's alive."

I'm speechless; I can't even wrap my head around the idea of my mother being alive. "Where is she?"

"She's with the Rebel Alliance. I'm at one of their bases now."

"Can I talk to her?" I ask hopefully.

"Luke" Leia's voice grows gentle, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" I protest.

"Because Luke, we can't trust her."

Han's POV

_-earlier that day-_

"Mother!" I hear Leia say bewildered in the room she had just entered.

I quickly make my way into the room followed by Chewie, both of us confused. Leia and her grandparents told us that her mother (Padme I think) is dead. When I enter the room, Leia is frozen in place staring in shock at a woman across the room.

With one glance at the woman, I know she must be Leia's mother. She looks exactly like the pictures the Nabarrie's had around their house, except older. Leia looks just like her.

"Leia" Padme smiles while walking up to her daughter and pulling Leia into a hug.

Leia is still frozen stiff. She is just staring at Padme as if she were to disappear at any moment. Eventually Leia repeats in a small voice "Mother?" She sounds like she is about to break out into tears.

"That's right sweetheart. It's me. I have waited a long time to see to you" Padme whispers.

"I th…I thought…father said…you…I" Leia stutters.

Padme gently holds Leia's face in her hands and begins wiping tears away. "I had to let the galaxy think I was dead to keep you, your brother, and the rest of our family safe."

"Not to break up this touching moment, but how are you alive?" I ask.

Padme looks over at me and begins "I was only in a coma when Leia and Luke were born. Obi-Wan let Vader believe I was dead when he came to take my babies away. I awoke a month later."

"Why didn't you come get us? Why did you leave Luke and me with him?" Leia asks accusingly.

"I tried baby. I tried so many times to get you two back. But your father kept you both locked up tight, all of our rescue attempts failed" Padme explain pulling Leia back into a hug. This time Leia returns it, sobbing into her mother's shoulder.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, "Why don't we give the two of them a bit of privacy" Obi-Wan says to me. I nod and follow everyone but Leia and Padme out of the room.

I confront Obi-Wan in the hallway "Hey, what's going on here? Is that woman in there really Leia's mother. If this is some cruel trick to get Leia on your side, I swear I'm going to…"

"We are not playing any tricks on the Princess. Padme has been waiting to meet Leia ever since she came out of her coma. Everything she has said has been true."

"Why didn't you tell Leia her mother was alive before? Leia said you two met twice before we came here, why didn't you tell her then?"

"I didn't want to scare Leia off. If I had told Leia that her dead mother was alive and with us, she would have never believed me and would not have come."

I think this over for a bit; Obi-Wan has a point. "Okay, fine! I see what you mean" I sigh.

There is a slight pause.

"One of our generals, you should meet." Yoda says trying to move on from the previous conversation. "Follow" he adds as he begins a journey down the hallway. Obi-Wan obediently follows while Chewie and I lag behind a bit.

We enter another room that appears to be for planning battle strategies. It is filled with holoscreens that have different battle plans and numbers on them. A few men are sitting at a table, scrutinizing something on one of the screens. One of them, obviously the leader, is moving figures around, but seems to be failing at whatever he is trying to accomplish.

"If we go by Mataou's moon, we can sneak by the Imperial's fleet heading towards Anoat" the leader says while drawing the route on the holoscreen.

"Yes, but they have a base on that moon now, we discovered that yesterday. The base would see our ships and grow suspicious" a man sitting at the table argues.

The leader curses under his breath while erasing the trail he made on the map displayed on the holoscreen. As I get closer I notice it is a map of the Anoat sector with the planet Anantapor circled.

"Go through Ison's atmosphere."

Everyone in the room stares at me surprised. The leader of the group asks sceptically "What?"

"Go through Ison corridor. I used it all the time for smuggling. The empire never checks there, so you shouldn't have any problems."

The leader stares at the holoscreen again before adding the route I just explained. "That actually works out very well." He turns back to me. "What's your name soldier?"

"Han Solo" I answer, "and I'm not a soldier. I'm just passing through."

"Escorted Princess Leia to us, Mr. Solo and his friend Chewbacca did." Yoda explains while indicating who Chewie is.

"I see" the leader nods and walks over. He reaches out to shake my hand, which I accept. "I'm Aquinos, a Jedi master and general for the Alliance."

"Nice to meet you."

"You know, we could use someone like you on our side. Someone who knows all the ways around the Empire's fleets. Are you sure you wouldn't like a place in our army."

"I'll think about it. First I just need to see how a few things work out."

Aquinos nods "alright. I'll see how you feel about it later. Mind if I run a few other routes we are planning by you?"

"Sure, why not."

Chewie, Obi-Wan, Yoda and I sit down at the table with Aquinos and the other soldiers. Aquinos shows us a few maps asking if we know any way to get around a few Imperial fleets or avoid their bases. Chewie and I point out a few different routes we know of and the soldiers write them down.

After a couple of hours Padme and Leia walk in. I can see that Leia's eyes are still a bit puffy. Padme says to her "Leia this is Master Aquinos, he is one of our top generals."

Leia shakes Aquinos's hand and says, "It is nice to meet you."

"Likewise Princess" he says smiling.

"What have you all been doing in here?" Padme asks.

Aquinos answers "Mr. Solo and Chewbacca have been helping us plan a few routes that avoid Imperial fleets for our ships."

"Well he is good at avoiding the law" Leia snickers.

I send her a joking glare "Hey, in my line of work it's necessary. You're just jealous that I can avoid trouble and you attract it."

Leia walks up next to me and playfully punches my arm "I do not attract trouble."

"Then explain how it follows you wherever you go" I joke.

"Han, you follow her wherever she goes" Chewie growls.

I feel my face go red as a few of the others in the room laugh. Obi-Wan and Yoda are raising their eyebrows at me while Padme is staring at Leia and I shocked. I look over at Leia, whose face is just as embarrassed as mine probably is.

"Well I think that's the end of this meeting" Aquinos says still chuckling as he makes his way to the door. "Seriously consider my offer Han, you too Chewbacca. We could use both of you." He leaves the room followed by the soldiers.

After an awkward silence Obi-Wan says "Master Yoda there were some things I wanted to show you about the Dantooine base. Padme I think you should also come." Chewie, Leia and I watch as the three leave the room. Padme gives Leia a smile before walking through the door.

Chewie eyes Leia and me, then starts making his way out of the room.

"Where are you going?" I ask annoyed and confused. Chewie simply grunts in response and exits through the door, leaving Leia and I alone.

Leia and I sit in another awkward silence until I ask "So, what did you and your mom talk about?"

Leia sits down in the chair next to me, "Well, she explained how she couldn't reveal that she was alive because she wanted to keep Luke and me safe. It was always her plan to rescue us then go into hiding. Father would have a harder time finding us if he didn't know we were with our supposedly dead mother. Then we just talked. She asked me about my life, about Luke, about why I ran away from the Empire."

"Did you tell her?"

Leia shook her head "No. I'm not ready to tell her everything yet."

"Why? She's your mother."

"Who I have only just met today. I don't know her, and she doesn't know me."

"She's still your family. Don't you think you can trust her?" I argue.

"I don't trust my father who is also my family, and I grew up with him."

"True. Well, do you think you will be sticking around here? Now that you know your mom's alive."

Leia sighs "I don't know. I feel like I should stay to get to know my mother. But I'm still not sure if I want to be part of the Alliance. I still know nothing about them, except that they want to bring the old Republic back."

"Well, just ask next time your mother or one of the wizards walks in."

Leia laughs "Han! They are Jedi, not wizards."

I smirk "Same thing if you ask me."

Leia laughs again.

_-an hour later-_

Eventually Chewie decided to rejoin Leia and me in the war room. The three of us sit and chat for a while before I eventually have to use the bathroom.

I exit the war room and head down a random hallway. I eventually find one and start heading back to the war room after I am finished. On the way I run into Aquinos

"Mr. Solo! I was hoping I would run into you."

"Oh. Why is that?" I ask.

"I just wanted to give you another offer to help fight the Empire" he says.

"Look, I don't know if I'm sticking around yet okay." I say a bit annoyed.

"No, no. This isn't with the Alliance. This is with a small party I am a part of."

"What do you mean?" I ask cautiously.

"Well, you see I am also in charge of an army that isn't part of the Rebel Alliance. It is small but powerful. I could use your help navigating them to Coruscant unnoticed" he says quietly while looking around to make sure that nobody was around to hear. "You see, I agree with the Alliance on many things. But I don't believe they are taking drastic enough action to accomplish anything. I simply want to give us a little boost."

"Does Obi-Wan or Yoda know about this?"

"No. They don't agree with some of the methods I am willing to take. It is better if they don't know."

"I see. Well, I'll have to think about it and get back to you." I say while trying to get away.

Aquinos calls after me "The people need a good leader Mr. Solo. I think with your help I can manage to give them one."

I turn the corner out of sight of Aquinos. I dodn't know exactly what he is up to, but something's telling me to stay away.

I enter the room I left Leia and Chewie in to discover that Obi-Wan, Yoda and Padme are there too, sitting around the table. I sit down between Yoda and Chewie. Leia must have asked about the Rebel's plans because everyone at the table was discussing the reasoning of the Alliance.

"The people should have the right to democracy. Your father took this away from them and we want to restore that right." Padme is explaining to Leia.

"Well, I agree but what is your plan to fix the problems the Republic had?" Leia asks.

Yoda answers "More influence, the Jedi will have."

"Is that the best idea? Because shouldn't the Senate and other parts of the Republic be separate from other influence? The members should be looking out for what is best for their territories and the galaxy as a whole. Not trying to please the Jedi."

"The Jedi only want what is best for the galaxy. We will make sure no evil will make its way into the government like it did last time" Obi-Wan argues.

"You can't be sure of that. I mean my father was a Jedi when he took over and you never thought that he would until the day I was born."

"Influenced by chancellor Palentine, your father was. Stayed with the Jedi without that influence, he would have." Yoda states.

"No he changed because he thought you" Leia points to Padme, "were going to die."

"Know of that, how do you?" Yoda asks confused.

"I had a dream about it."

I notice Padme and Obi-Wan look at each other with wide eyes briefly then look away. Leia had told me and Chewie about her dream on the trip here, so I wasn't surprised when she mentioned it. Why are these two acting so weird though?

Yoda asks "Dream?"

"Yeah. Before I left the Empire."

"Type of dream, what was it?"

Leia looks confused and looks over at Padme "Well it was actually from your point of view. I saw what happened between you, father and Obi-Wan on some volcanic planet."

Padme and Obi-Wan's faces are stoic, but I can tell there is a bit of guilt in their eyes. I see out of the corner of my eye Yoda glare at the two. Leia still has a confused look on her face which only worsens when she sees Yoda glaring at Padme and Obi-Wan.

After a long awkward moment I sternly ask "What aren't you telling us?"

Nobody answers. This time Leia asks "What's going on?"

Yoda answers "forbidden power, Obi-Wan has used."

Leia looks at Obi-Wan who says after an uncomfortable moment "It was necessary at the time."

"What did you do?" I ask.

"Well, after we heard of Leia's forced engagement, your mother and I knew we had to get her out of there. Since all of our rescue attempts had failed, we tried to use a different method. We tried to influence Leia to leave the Empire herself."

"What did you do?" Leia asks intensely.

"I sent your mothers memory into your dreams."

"A forbidden act" Yoda adds angrily.

Padme interrupts "We only wanted you to see the evil in you fathers ways Leia. We needed you to see that the way he is ruling is wrong. I thought if you saw what he did to me, you would want to leave."

"_You_ did that to me!" Leia icily accuses.

Padme tries to comfort Leia while saying "I needed you to see what he was doing Leia. He was using you to gain power, he was trying to control you. I needed you to see his manipulations…"

"What you did was no better" Leia snaps while pushing away Padme's attempts to comfort her.

"I'm sorry Leia, but listen to me. I wanted you back. I couldn't watch what he was doing to you anymore, I need to get you out of there. I was desperate."

"Desperate enough to fill my head with nightmares."

"Leia, you don't understand…" Padme pleaded.

"No! You don't understand. That 'dream' has haunted me almost every night since I was sixteen. I can't get a good night's sleep without it popping into my head. I can't look at father without thinking of it."

"You had to see the wrong in his ways. I never wanted to hurt you, just make you understand, make you want to break away from him…"

"Make me join you" Leia says emotionless.

"Yes, eventually. I hoped that you would want to stop his cruelty and join us."

Leia stares at her mother emotionlessly for what seems like an eternity. Finally she says

"You know. Father may have done some things I didn't like while growing up. He took away my brother and changed him into someone I didn't know anymore. He abandoned me at the palace to be raised by droids. He tried controlling my actions by putting me in an arranged marriage. But he has _never_ messed with my head like you did. He _never_ went that far. My brain was the only place that was _mine._ The only safe place I had where I wasn't being manipulated or controlled and _you_ took that away. _You_ took away the only thing that I had left that kept me from falling apart. That memory destroyed me. It abolished any guard I had, and allowed someone else to come in and manipulate my thoughts and emotions. Someone else may have broken me, but you were the ones to make the first crack."

Padme desperately grabs onto Leia's arms and pleads "I'm sorry baby. I'm so sorry. I didn't know it would affect you so badly."

Leia jumps out of her chair and pulls away from Padme yelling "DON"T TOUCH ME!"

Obi-Wan gets up and moves towards Leia while saying "Leia, I am sorry too. I wouldn't have done what I did if I knew what it was going to do to you. Please, try to understand…"

"NO!" Leia screams, "I trusted you! I gave you a chance, a chance I was raised never to give a Jedi, and you used me."

"I didn't mean to…" Obi-Wan doesn't get the chance to finish because Leia runs out of the room and down the hall towards where the ship yard is. Padme and Obi-Wan chase after her.

Yoda looks very upset and says "Stopped this, I should have. Eye on Obi-Wan, I should have kept."

I look over at Chewie and tell him "Hey, how about you go let Leia on the Falcon. I'm sure she probably wants some privacy right now." He growls and leaves.

I return my attention to Yoda, "Look you couldn't have known they were going to do that. Don't beat yourself up. But there is something you need to know about Aquinos."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Han's POV

After I finish telling Yoda about the talk I had with Aqinos, I head back to the Millennium Falcon. I pass Obi-Wan and Padme in the shipyard; they seem to be arguing about something. Padme still has tears in her eyes from her fight with Leia.

I board the Falcon and see Chewie hanging out in the sitting area. He points to sleeping quarters where I can hear Leia talking from inside. Curious as to who she could be talking to in an empty room, I enter. Leia is sitting on my bunk (She has top bunk and doesn't like to climb up there all the time) and is speaking into a communicator, one I have seen her with a few other times since we left Tatoonie.

"Who are you talking to?" I ask.

Leia pauses her conversation and turns towards me. I can tell she has been crying. Her voice is shaky when she answers, "Luke."

"Luke? Your brother Luke?"

"Yeah, I kept in contact with him after he dropped me off at your ship." She turns her attention back to the communicator "No, I'm not talking to her."

"Are you telling him about your mother?" I ask.

She nods her head as a response to my question, then says to the communicator "I told you before, I don't think it's a good idea. She isn't what you are expecting Luke."

"What, does he want to talk to her?" Leia nods again, to which I respond "Here give that to me."

"What? No!" Leia protests before saying into the communicator "not you Luke. Someone else."

I grab the device from out of her hands and say into it "Hey your highness, long time no see."

Luke says from the other end "Who is this? Where is my sister?"

"Leia's fine, she's sitting on my bed moping."

"What? Who is this?" Luke asks again sternly.

"The pilot whose ship you dropped your sister off at."

"Ah the pirate" Luke says with a little hint of disgust in his voice.

I ignore his tone and say "So you want to talk to your mom."

"Well, yes I do" Luke says sounding a bit off guard.

Leia gets off my bed and reaches for the communicator but I keep it out of her reach. "Han give that back" she demands.

I ignore her and walk out of the room, past Chewie, and off the ship. Padme and Obi-Wan are still where they were before; I make my way over. They both look a bit surprised when I walk up. Before they can say anything, I hand Padme the device and say "Here, it's your son."

Padme's eyes grow wide as she eagerly accepts the communicator. She says timidly into it "Luke?"

Giving her a bit of privacy I head back to the Falcon. Obi-Wan doesn't seem to want to leave, but gives Padme some space by walking a few feet away.

As I enter the ship, I notice Leia is standing near the entryway, out of sight to anyone outside. She glares at me and practically yells "Why did you do that? Go get my communicator back!"

"If you want it back, get it yourself."

"I don't want to face her again Han. You gave it to her, you go get it."

"Luke has a right to speak to his mother Leia. You weren't going to let him because you're angry with her, so I had to step in. If you want break up maybe the only chance your brother will ever get to speak to his mother, go right ahead."

"He doesn't understand what she did" Leia argues angrily.

"Did you explain it to him?" I ask.

"Well, yes."

"And he still wanted to talk to her."

"Yes."

"Then you should have let him. I shouldn't have had to intervene Leia." I state.

She sends me a defeated glare, then looks out towards the shipyard. Padme is still talking to Luke on the communicator. Her face is happy, but I can see tears glistening down her cheeks.

"Dang, she cries more than you do" I joke.

Leia's glare returns to me "I do not cry that often!"

"Please, you could water your grandparent's garden." I laugh.

"Oh shut up Han!" Leia yells before storming back into the living area of the ship. I follow behind her and watch as she goes back into the bunk room and slams the door closed.

Chewie is still sitting on the couch from before, he rolls his eyes at me while growling "What did you do now?"

"Nothing. She will thank me for it later" I defend myself.

"Sure she will."

Luke's POV

Life feels surreal while talking to my mother, a conversation I never even imagined happening. Her voice feels familiar even though I have never heard her speak until today.

We talk about her life, my life, my interests, but never about the Rebellion or Father. When I ask her about either, she avoids answering. I try to keep my voice quiet, knowing Father is only one room away. If he found about this conversation, I don't even know how he would react.

"Why did you betray Father?" I ask gently.

"Luke" she says softly, "I didn't. Not when he thought I did, not in the dream Obi-Wan sent to Leia. It was a misunderstanding on your Fathers part, I hadn't done anything."

"Why did you only send a dream to Leia, not both of us? Did you not want me to leave too?"

"Of course I did sweetheart. I want you here with me so badly. Obi-Wan and I were uncertain of how the memory would affect you two, we never wanted to use it in the first place. I was just so desperate to get you both back, and then your father put Leia in an engagement. I couldn't let that happen to her, so I begged Obi-Wan to send her the memory, hoping it would be the tipping point for her to decide to leave."

"Did you have any plan for me?" I ask.

Mother pauses before answering "We tried Luke. We tried so many times to get you out, but we couldn't find a way. Obi-Wan wouldn't send another dream to you and nobody could think of anything."

I think this over. A part of me feels jealous of Leia, jealous that our mother tried to get her back, but not me. Leia told me how horrible the memory was, and I saw how she reacted when dreaming it years ago. But I still can't help but envy her a bit.

In the middle of my train of thought, Father enters the room, obviously irritated with my absence, and orders "Luke. It has been half an hour, whoever it is can wait. I want you back in the training room in five minutes" then leaves.

"Was that your father?" Mother asks.

"Yes," I answer "I should get back."

Mother sighs, "I understand, I love you Luke. I hope to meet you someday."

"Yes" I say eagerly "we will figure something out."

"I love you my baby."

Not knowing how to respond, I end the call. I know I should have said something back, but I couldn't. I had just met my mother, well not even that. I had only talked to her over a communicator for fifteen minutes. I don't know how I feel about her yet.

I enter the training room still feeling a bit confused. Father is on the other end of the room, battling a training droid in combat. He hears me come in, turns around to look at me and asks "So who were you talking to?"

I freeze, I can't tell Father I was talking to Leia and Mother. I promised Leia that I wouldn't tell Father about our calls and I don't think it is a good idea to tell him about Mother. She obviously doesn't want him knowing that she is alive.

"Like I said before Father, just some girl" I lie.

Father raises his eyebrow to me, not believing my story. But he lets it go and asks "Are you ready to get back to skills?"

I nod and we begin dueling. Father is trying to show me how to disarm an opponent, but I can't concentrate. My mind is too distracted with the call I just had. After my ninth or tenth try without any improvement, Father reprimands me "Luke. I will not train you if you won't pay attention."

"I am paying attention Father."

"No you are not. You are distracted and frankly it is a waste of my time to try to teach you anything in this state. You can come back tomorrow when your head is clear."

After years of training with Father, I know that is my signal to leave. Embarrassment washes through me as I leave the room. I haven't been kicked out of a training session with Father in years. I try to shake it off and return my attention to the call I just had.

I head to my room and pick up my communicator again. Leia probably has it back by now, which is good, I need to talk to her.

Vader's POV

Luke walks out of the training room obviously embarrassed. I sigh. It has been years since I had to kick Luke out of a training session. He hasn't been this distracted while training since he was thirteen.

It must have been the call he made during his little break. Whoever the caller was must have had something important to say since they wouldn't stop calling him. My curiosity as to who the mysterious caller is peaks and an idea crosses my mind. I leave the training room and make my way down a few hallways.

Knowing my children would grow up with many guards around for their safety, I was worried about them having privacy. So I decided to make their suites as private as possible. They both had control over guards entering their suites, had soundproofing (Leia requested this when she started having slumber parties where they played truth or dare), and only the three of us had access to security footage in the suites.

I have never tried to infringe on that privacy I set up for them. But Luke has never lied to me before, I want to know what is wrong. He has been acting strange ever since he found Leia on Tatooine. Something's telling me that call was either from Leia or was about Leia.

I finally make it to my destination, the security office. As I enter, all the guards jump to their feet, surprised by my arrival since I am rarely visit this office.

One guard, I assume the head, approaches me and says "My Lord, is there something you need?"

"Yes, get me footage to Luke's suite." They all nod and race around to get the holoscreen prepared. I enter the private viewing room that Luke used after his return from Tatooine.

I know that there isn't any footage of the call he just had. I made sure that there is no filming of the training rooms, because I don't want anyone else to have access to the knowledge I teach Luke about the Dark side. But knowing my son, he is probably in the middle of another call in his own room where there are cameras.

The security access pops up on the holoscreen and I punch in my code. Luke told me that he had some difficulties accessing the footage when he used his code, but I don't seem to have any problems. I enter todays date in and find the live footage.

My assumptions were correct, Luke is in the middle of another call. A part of me feels a bit guilty for invading his privacy, but something is telling me it is important for me to know what he is talking about. I listen to his conversation

"Should I come over there? I mean, they probably won't welcome me with open arms like they did you, but we need to meet." He pauses and listens to the other person, then continues, "Where then?" pause "I will see you there in three days, goodbye Leia."

So I was right. I'm not surprised that Luke kept in touch with Leia, I'm not even mad actually. I thought he would maintain contact with her after what she told him about Eryk. I'm only confused as to why Luke never told me after we straitened that matter out.

Leia must have told him not to tell me. To the best of my knowledge, she hasn't made any attempt to return, she must still not trust me. I don't know how to get her back without having any contact with her. Leia has obviously mastered staying hidden after years of avoiding being caught. She could do it again.

It makes my skin crawl thinking about her spending five years on Tatooine. Out of every place in the galaxy, that is the one planet I never wanted Luke or Leia to ever have to visit. When Luke and I planned the mission to find the Jedi we sensed on the planet, I tried to convince Luke not to go. I was going to do a solo mission, but then I had to negotiate a few bills that needed to be passed and couldn't leave Coruscant, so Luke had to go alone. To the dirtball, sleezy, scum of a planet. The place where I spent my childhood in slavery, where my mother died, and now where my daughter went to escape me.

After what Luke told me about Eryk's treatment of Leia and what he made her believe, I do not blame Leia for running away. I am only angry at myself for not believing her, and allowing Eryk to do what he did. I never bothered to learn why Leia hated the engagement so much, and that is my fault.

What Eryk told me right before he died haunts my thoughts. I tried to brush his words off and forget, but it hasn't worked. It wasn't the first time I have been called a manipulator, but it was the first time I was accused of doing it to my children. Nobody has ever had the courage to say that to me, not even the tabloids.

I never intentioned to try to totally control Leia, I only wanted what was best for her. I didn't want her to get hurt or be put in danger. That is why I only taught her how to use her powers for protection, I didn't want her out in battles or fighting Jedi. She reminds me so much of Padme, I couldn't let her ever be put into that kind of danger.

It didn't matter though. I may have succeeded in keeping Leia out of fights, but I put her into a different kind of danger. What happened with Eryk is my fault.

All I want now is to bring her back. After that, I don't care who she is friends with, who she marries, or what she does. I just want her back at the palace safe, safe from the Jedi, safe from the Rebels, and safe from any other unknown enemies that are waiting to attack.

I would have raised Luke the same way if he wasn't so much like me. When the twins were little I knew that he was just like I was when I was a child, where Leia was just like Padme. Leia always played with the mind toys, figuring out puzzles or learning how to read or write. Luke always played with a fake lightsaber or would tinker with the mechanics of a few toys. The first time he asked me to teach him how to fly was when he was three, I knew then that I would have to train him. If I didn't he would have rebelled and learned how to fly and fight by himself, putting him in more danger if he wasn't properly trained.

Apparently both my children inherited mine and Padme's trait for rebellion. Leia has rebelled in numerous ways since I started training Luke, and now Luke has started by not telling me about Leia. I wish he would at least tell me where she is, then I could go try reason with Leia. Bring her back to the palace.

'She is meeting Luke in three days' I think to myself. It isn't uncommon for Luke to ask to go on missions by himself, he asks for them at least once a month. So he will probably just ask to go on one so he can meet up with Leia.

I think over my plans for the next week. I don't have much to do except attend a few meetings that can be easily canceled. It would be quite easy to take a few days off and it isn't hard to track one of my own ships.

Han's POV

Leia is still in the bunk room. I had retrieved her communicator from Padme an hour ago and gave it back to Leia. Padme was a little sad, but gave it up willingly. When I gave it to Leia, she went back into the bunk room and slammed the door in my face.

I may not be the best at reading people, but I think she's still mad.

About fifteen minutes later I heard her talking to someone and assumed either Luke called her back, or she called Luke. They talked for about ten minutes then stopped.

Hoping I allowed her enough time to cool off, I knock on the door. She doesn't answer.

"Leia? Look I'm sorry for what I said okay. Come on let me in."

Still no answer. The door doesn't lock, so I walk in.

Leia is sitting on my bunk cross-legged and is staring at her feet. This isn't a good sign. I have spent enough time with Leia to know that when she is thinking about something sad, she examines her feet. A weird habit, but I don't say anything.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"Luke wants to meet Padme" she answers sullenly.

"Oh, and?"

"I have to tell her."

I sigh. "Leia. I know you are angry with your mom right now…"

"She's not my mom Han. I've only known her for less than a day, and she already used me."

I sit next to Leia on the bed "She's sorry Leia. Try to put yourself in her place. Being separated from your kids their entire lives, desperate to try to meet them."

"I would never do what she did." Leia looks at me "I will never mess with my children's minds. I will never abandon them like she did to Luke and I. If I was separated from my kids, I would go get them myself, not sit around and have others do all the work."

"She tried Leia. She told you that didn't she?"

Leia sighs and leans her head against my shoulder. "I just want all this to be over Han. I just want to settle down and live our lives in peace. Not having to worry about being caught by my father, not have all these family surprises. I just want this all to be over."

Not going to lie, I didn't pay attention to the last part of that. I stopped listening after "Our?"

Leia looks up at me confused, "What?"

"You said our."

Her face grows red, "I…well…I"

"You want us to be together after all this."

Leia looks away embarrassed. "I'm sorry Han. I didn't mean to embarrass you. I understand if…"

Before she can say anymore, I turn her face towards me and kiss her on the lips. It lasts for a few seconds before I release her and we both stare into each other's eyes.

I smile and say smugly "I think I'll be fine with 'us.'"

We kiss again. A heated kiss. She wraps her arms around my shoulders and I wrap mine around her waist. I pull her closer to me. At some point I push her over, so I am hovering over her body laying on the bed.

Leia's POV

I was shocked by Han's kiss at first, but quickly melted into it. All the feelings for Han that I have kept inside flood into the kiss.

Ever since our almost kiss on the trip to my grandparents, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. But I never knew if he felt the same way, so I never perused another. The kiss we almost had in the hallway gave me a bit of hope, but not enough to act on.

The weeks we have spent together have been some of the hardest, yet happiest of my life. Every emotional ride I have been on, he has kept me sane. The time we have spent together has filled me with life again.

Not just the time we have spent together over the last few weeks. When I first arrived on Tatooine, I was still in a slump. It wasn't until Han and Chewie sauntered into Chalmun's that I finally was able to laugh again.

I deepen the kiss. I feel Hans's tongue on my lips, asking for entrance. I allow them in.

I run my hands through his hair and down his back. I reach the bottom of his shirt and begin pulling it up. Han stops and pulls breaks away from our kiss with wide eyes.

"Leia. Are you sure? If you're not ready…"

I stop him by pulling him into another kiss which eagerly accepts. I attempt to take his shirt off again and get it halfway up his chest. He helps me the rest of the way. We have to separate our kiss for a second, but feverishly pick it back up.

I am still wearing my coat, so I have to sit up to slip it off my shoulders. We then return to our laying positions, Han begins unbuttoning my blouse while kissing my neck.

He gets halfway finished with the buttons when Chewie walks into the room and growls "Leia, your mother's here to…oh, hello Han."

"CHEWIE GET OUT!" Han screams.

Chewie gives a short growl/laugh, and quickly makes his exit.

I look up at Han above me and say, "I think I should go talk to my mother Han."

"Right _now_?"

"If I don't do it now, I don't think I ever will."

Han looks down at me with big eyes then nods his head. He rolls of me and sighs, "Leia, you're going to be the death of me."

I laugh and punch his arm before buttoning my shirt back up.

Han's POV

I escort Leia off the ship. Padme is a few yards away, watching her daughter with guilt-filled eyes. Leia walks over and they begin talking about meeting up with Luke.

"Han! Good to see you again" a voice behind me says.

I turn around to see Aqinos behind me. I mentally sigh 'When is this guy going to leave me alone?'

"Hey. Nice to see you again." I say as I shake his hand.

Aqinos smiles and whispers "So have you thought about my offer?"

"I have, and I just don't think it's going to work out."

Aqinos smile disappears "Oh, and why is that?"

"Look, I don't know what you're up to, but whatever it is, count me out. I'm just here for Leia." I try to march away but Aqinos next statement stops me.

"I can help you give her what she wants."

I turn, "What?"

"She wants a normal life doesn't she? One away from war, away from the Empire, away from all this drama. She wants if all to be over with doesn't she."

I eye him cautiously, "How do you know that?"

"I can see it in her eyes. You see, when I started my training, I always had a knack for discovering peoples desires. I always knew what they truly wanted by one look. When I saw Leia, I knew she was finished with all this messy drama that is in her life, and when I saw how you looked at her, I knew you would do anything to make her happy. I can help you with that. I can get Leia out of all this and give her the future she wants with you." Aqinos smiles.

My first notion is to accept his offer, but I know better. I still don't know what Aquinos is actually up to yet. All I know is that it will affect Leia.

"What is your plan?"

"Well, you see, the army I was telling you about is almost ready to attack. All I need is your help to get them to Coruscant. Then I will be able to control them in taking back our galaxy's capital."

I frown, finally understanding his intentions, "You want to overthrow the emperor yourself."

"Well, that is one way to look at it. I view it as giving control back to those who will use it correctly."

"Well, if I want that future with Leia that you mentioned, overthrowing her father would not be in my best interest."

Aqinos eyes narrow "I see, well I hope you and the Princess enjoy your time together." He sends a glare towards Leia, then storms away.

Aquinos's POV

-that night-

Master Yoda calls me, asking to talk to me in private. I am not really in the mood to hear one of his long rants, but decide that I probably should avoid him. He does have the most influence in the Rebellion than all the other Jedi, I should stay on his good side.

I am waking to the meeting room Master Yoda told me he would be in. Along the way I run across Padme carrying a travel bag. She seems nervous, yet happy at the same time.

"Padme. Where are you off to?" I ask while indicating the bag.

She smiles "Hello Master Aquinos, I'm actually leaving with Leia, Han and Chewbacca for a few days."

My eyebrow raises, "Really, why is that?"

"We are meeting up with Luke on Mustafar in three days. It will take a couple days to get there, so we are leaving in about ten minutes."

"Mustafar? Why would you meet him there?"

Padme's smile waivers "I didn't choose the destination. Neither Luke or Leia know that is where _it_ happened."

"I see. Well I wish you well with meeting your son."

Padme's smile is brighter than ever, "I finally get to see him Aquinos. I didn't think I would ever have the chance to meet one of my children, let alone both."

I place my hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "I'm sure Luke is just as excited as you are."

She pulls me into a hug and says "I hope so." Then pulls away.

"Well I wish you luck. You better get going."

Padme nods and heads down the hallway again. She waves as she is walking and says "Goodbye Aquinos."

"Goodbye Padme."

She turns the corner; I grin to myself. 'Mustafar isn't too far away from Dweem.'

The thought of this happy coincidence stays in my mind until I reach the meeting room. As I walk in, I can feel Master Yoda's glare on me. He is sitting in a chair while eyeing me suspiciously.

"Master Yoda, you requested me."

"I did, yes. Han Solo told me, concerns I have from."

I tense, "What is it that Mr. Solo told you."

"Of your own, an army you have. Apart of the Alliance, it is not."

"Master Yoda. I do not wish to go against the Alliance in any way. What Mr. Solo has told you is a misunderstanding." I say, trying to play it off as no big deal."

"Explain, you should."

"Well, I do have a small army that is not part of the Alliance yet. I was going to tell you and Master Obi-Wan about it when I thought it was ready to fight."

"A secret, why have you kept?" Yoda questions, obviously not believing me.

"Well remember the idea I had about the Iron Knights? The idea that you and Obi-Wan didn't want to support."

"Yes."

"Well I just wanted to show you both that it was possible. But I knew I would have to do it in secret, or you would stop them from being made."

"Made, they should not have been. Understand the Force, they cannot truly do. Why we didn't want them made, that is why."

"But Master, they are ready. They understand the Force enough to fight the Empire." I argue.

"Support this we will not. Destroy them you must." Yoda orders.

My eyes narrow "That is not your place to decide Master Yoda."

"We will destroy them, if you will not" he heads toward the door.

I ignite my lightsaber and use it to block his path. "I can't let you do that."

Yoda's head slowly turns to glare at me "Why not?"

"Because I need them for my plan, and I can't let you get in the way."

Yoda's hand moves to grab his lightsaber, but he never makes it. I slash my own through his body, killing him. He falls to the floor dead.

I stare at Yoda's body for a while. The Alliance will never join me now, not after this. Oh well, I didn't really need their support. It would have just been one less enemy.

I head out to the shipyard, leaving Yoda's body to be found by someone else. The meeting rooms are not used much at night, so nobody will probably find him until tomorrow morning, giving me plenty of time.

Others in the shipyard give me confused looks, but nobody questions me. Jedi are always coming and going from the bases, they must just think I am going on a new mission.

I make it to my ship and start up the engine, noting that the Millennium Falcon is already gone.

As I take off, I send a call to Dweem. One of my Iron Knights picks up "Good evening Master Aqinos. May we be of assistance."

"Yes. Bring all our troops to Mustafar." I smile "It is time."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Chewbacca's POV

To say the trip to Mustafar was awkward would be putting it lightly. It took three days to get to the planet and each day came with its own traits and events that gave different senses of discomfort and stress.

The first day Han piloted and I decided to hang out in the cockpit with him to talk. When it was just the two of us, it was fine. But Leia would come visit us and chat for a while, which wasn't bad, until Padme would walk in. Padme would sit next to Leia, who would immediately get up and leave the room the minute Padme spoke one word. Then Padme would sit there looking miserable for about twenty minutes staring at her hands. Han and I would try to keep up a conversation with her, but she was always too distracted thinking about Leia. Eventually she would get up and walk in the direction Leia disappeared. About five minutes later Leia would appear back in the cockpit and the cycle continued the entire day. Han and I took turns making food for the two of us throughout the day. When Leia and Padme ate; I have no idea. After about five hours I decided I was done dealing with the two and took a nap in the bunk room. That worked for a few hours, until Han got fed up with them too and locked the door to the cockpit, causing Padme and Leia to use the bunk room as a second destination for their little game. That lasted for about another three hours until it was time for everyone to go to sleep. Since I took a nap I piloted the ship when the other three were asleep.

I slept through most of the second day after Han took over piloting. I'm not sure what happened while I was asleep, but when I walked into the kitchen after waking up, I passed by Leia crying on Padme's shoulder in the sitting area. I was going to ask what happened, but decided at that point I honestly did not care anymore, went into the kitchen, made myself a sandwich then joined Han in the cockpit. According to him, he made them both sit down and talk. He left after Leia started crying and never felt like check up on them. So basically the entire rest of the day was spent with Han and I hiding out in the cockpit (we locked the doors) while hearing Leia and Padme taking turns crying every once in a while from whatever heartfelt meaningful conversation they were having. Han left once to get us some food, but other than that we stayed tucked away in our hiding place until Han went to the bunk room to get some sleep.

The final day was probably the worst. Not because Leia was avoiding Padme or they spent the entire day crying, but because they were both happy the whole day. It was a complete 180. The entire day consisted of Leia and Padme happily chatting about Ruwee, Jobal and Sola, laughing over a few stories they told each other, or whispering about Han when he wasn't in the room. Han and I just sat back and watched this all transpire utterly confused of the ways of women.

We landed on Mustafar that night at some evacuated base Luke knew about (which is weird). Luke was supposed to arrive the next morning, but notified Leia that he was delayed on Coruscant and wouldn't be on Mustafar until later the next night. Something about their father asking questions, frankly I didn't care and was not paying attention when it was being explained to me.

You know, I love Leia and think she is going to be good for Han. But ever since Han and I brought her to her grandparents, I have been on the ride of my life. I didn't mind staying at her grandparents or traveling to Hoth. But the constant emotional ups and downs are driving me crazy, even though I'm staying out of it for the most part. I don't know how Han is staying sane through all this.

It's not that I'm angry about being dragged along on whatever adventure Leia decides to go on next, in fact I find it humorous to watch Han follow her around and do whatever she asks. I've met a lot of women Han has 'dated', and none have had this effect on him. Leia will be good for Han in the long run, once we figure out all this 'family drama' and they decide to settle down.

I never thought of myself as being able to predict the future. But something's telling me that their time is coming soon.

Padme's POV

I stare out the window of the bunk room, out to the volcanic mountains and lava streams that are all too familiar. The landing looks exactly the same as it does in my memory, I can't believe Leia hasn't noticed.

Did Luke know about the significance of this base when he chose for us to meet here? No, how would he. I'm sure Ana…Vader never told him about Mustafar. He never told Leia, why would he tell Luke?

I wonder what Luke will be like. Will he be like me, like Anakin, or will he be like Vader. He has trained under Vader since he was five years old. But Luke did let Leia escape Tatoonie, there must be good still in him. Vader hasn't flushed it all away yet.

Will he be as angry with me as Leia was? Sure, Leia was mad at me for reasons that didn't involve Luke, but he will probably have just as many questions for me as Leia did. I just hope I will have time to explain everything to him. I hope that he will listen.

It took Han forcing Leia to talk to me, for her to finally open up. At first she was still angry at me for the dream, but after a couple hours we were able to move on. Leia had many questions for me, questions I haven't answered for myself.

"_Did you love father?" Leia asks._

_We are seated on the couch facing each other. Leia is studying my face as if it were a confusing book that if read correctly would tell her everything she ever wanted to know. Well, I guess I am sort of that book to her._

"_Yes. I loved him very much."_

"_Did you want to marry him?"_

_I smile, "Yes. At first I thought it was a bad idea, but after what we had been through together, I wanted to be his wife."_

_Leia stares at me a bit surprised. After recovering she asks "Were you both happy when you were married?"_

"_It was challenging sometimes. But yes, we were happy together."_

_Leia's face frowns in confusion, "If you were both happy and in love while married why would he…" she trails off._

"_Why would he make you marry someone you didn't love?"_

_Leia nods._

_I sigh, "I can't be sure sweetheart. I know that he never wanted any harm to come to you and Luke. The reason he turned to the dark side in the first place was to protect you two and I. He probably just didn't want you getting hurt."_

_Leia nods understandingly and stares off into the distance thinking. After a few minutes of thought she asks "Why did you never come back?"_

"_What?" I say back shocked._

_Leia looks at me and repeats "Why did you never come back? If you and father loved each other and were happy together, why didn't you want to be with him, Luke and me? It is easy to tell that father is still loves you, he would have taken you back in a heartbeat. Made you Empress, you could have helped him run the galaxy."_

_This was a hard question to answer. "I often considered returning to your father to be with you and Luke. But I knew I could never stand by his side. I couldn't be the Empress when I didn't believe in the Empire. I believe in the Republic, in the Jedi, everything your father used to stand for before destroying."_

"_Even though they are not perfect" she says curiously._

"_Even though they are not perfect."_

"_Were they more important than Luke and I?"_

_I grab Leia's hands and look into her eyes, "Of course not. I always wanted to be with you and your brother. I just couldn't raise you two in the Empire. It was always my intention to rescue you two, raise you both away from the Empire, safe from your father."_

_Leia stares into my eyes for a while, thinking over all I just said. "Do you still love him?"_

_This question leaves me speechless. It is one I have thought about many times before, but have never had an answer for. "I don't know if I do."_

The last question still has me stumped. I still love Anakin, my husband. But I can't love what he has become. Every time I have seen his face on the holoscreen or holopad, I have mixed emotions. His face is still Anakin, but that is all that is left. His face and our children who were taken from me the day of their birth. The first time I got to hold Leia was a few days ago when she arrived on Hoth; I still have never held my baby boy.

My nerves for tomorrow are growing with each passing second. I don't know what to expect of Luke. When we talked for those fifteen minutes, he seemed so much like Anakin. He loved flying, building ships and droids. From the pictures I have seen, he looks just like Anakin. But will Luke be like how Anakin was or how he is now? I won't be sure until tomorrow.

There is a sense that is helping me through all this. A sense that is keeping my nerves at a manageable level. I feel as if that after tomorrow, everything will be okay. Like, years of worry and sorrow will be over. I want to think the sense is about Luke, Leia and I. But I know it's not.

Han's POV

My shoulder is growing numb from Leia's head. We were both sitting on the couch next to each other, then about an hour ago she fell asleep on me. I don't mind, I just laid back and let her lean against my body in a more comfortable position while putting my arm around her. Chewie and Padme were sitting with us earlier, but went to bed a little after Leia fell asleep.

I watch Leia's sleeping face. It is the first time since I've seen her true face that I have been able to study her. When she was Tera, I was able admire her from the other side of the bar without being so obvious. It is harder to find moments to do that now, when she doesn't have dozens of other customers to attend to.

She was very pretty as Tera, but I prefer her real face. It fits her better.

A strand of hair falls in front of her face. I make a move to brush it out of the way and accidently wake her up.

She blinks a few times and examines her surroundings. She turns to look at me and the position we are in. At first I think she is going to move away, but instead she cuddles further into my arms.

"How long have I been out?" she asks drearily.

"About an hour. Get a good nap?"

She nods and asks "Where is Chewie and mom?"

"They went to bed. So you're calling Padme mom now?"

Leia sighs "Was I really that harsh to her before?"

"In my opinion, yeah a bit. But you had your reasons."

"Still, I shouldn't have been so quick to judge her." Leia looks at my face "Do I do that a lot?"

"Not really, you were always welcoming back at the cantina. It's just when you meet your family that you are quick to have an opinion." I answer.

"What?"

"Well, you refused to trust your mother at first, but that's understandable. You also thought that your grandparents were some horrible old couple who were going to freak out and disown you when you met them. Yet back at the cantina, you always seemed to think the best of every slime ball that walked in."

Leia's silent for a while, then says "I don't know why I do that."

"Probably daddy issues."

Leia glares at me then punches my chest "I do not have daddy issues."

I chuckle "Call it what you will, but I think the source of your problem is your father and brother."

Still angry, Leia asks "What do you mean?"

"Well think about it. You told me that you lost trust in your father and brother growing up. Sure you had your friend and guard who you connected to. But you never had a blood relation who you felt secure with. I think when you met your grandparents and Padme, you started looking for reasons not to trust them. The only difference between them was that Padme gave you a chance to push away and you took it."

Leia stares at me for a while before laying her head on my chest. It is silent for a few minutes until I hear Leia whisper "What kind of person pushes away their own family on instinct?"

I pull her closer, "Hey, it's not your fault. You grew up that way, you have your reasons. Besides we all have our problems, me included."

Leia gives a small laugh before going quiet.

"Thanks Han" she whispers.

This moment feels nice. Everything feels right. I look down at Leia's face that is laying on my chest. Holding her in my arms feels like for the first time ever, the world is perfect.

Something in my head clicks. Suddenly a thought appears, but it doesn't feel like my own. As strange as it sounds, for some reason I know that I Leia and I will have more of these moments. The thought isn't a wish or a hope, it is an assurance.

Vader's POV

It wasn't hard to install a tracker into Luke's ship. The only problem I had was when I was asking him about the mission he was going on. Luke kept a calm face, but I could tell that he was nervous to say the wrong thing and alert me to his plans.

He left Coruscant later than he originally planned. I waited an hour after he left to begin my journey. I want to keep a safe distance away so that he won't notice anyone following him, but I also don't want to be too far behind. My ship is faster, so when Luke reaches his destination, it will only take me a short while for me to arrive there also.

After programing my ship to follow Luke's on autopilot, I got some sleep. When I woke up, I was still a good distance away and still on course with him. Everything is going well so far.

The only part of my plan I am nervous about is when I finally confront Leia. The problem isn't how to get her back to Coruscant, I will force her if I have to. The problem is I want her to come back willingly.

I don't know how I'm going to convince her to return with Luke and me. I'm hoping that if I apologize and promise her more freedom at the palace, she will agree. But I know it won't be that easy. Most likely she won't believe me. Why would she after all that has happened? I guess I can't determine what to say until I'm actually talking to Leia.

I wonder what she will be like. After years of living on Tatoonie and being on her own, she must have changed somehow. Luke said she was working in a cantina for pirates and smuggler when he found her, and that she was known as the best bartender around. So she must have been there for a few years. Working there probably hardened her a bit. You have to be tough to work in any bar on Tatooine, let alone one popular with pirates.

I hope she hasn't changed too much. I always chastised her for being too immature, but I secretly enjoyed learning of her little rebellions or pranks at the palace. They reminded me of Padme. Sure Padme never did anything like put pink hair coloring in a guard's helmet or made faces at public officials behind their backs. But just like Padme, Leia never kept her opinion to herself. If she didn't say her opinion vocally (which was usually the case), then she made sure everyone knew in some other way, whether it was by her expressions or actions. If someone rubbed her the wrong way, they were usually the victims of the pranks I was notified of. I never had to guess on how Leia or Padme felt about something.

The dashboard of my ship beeps, indicating that Luke has landed on a planet; Mustafar. My body freezes. 'Why is he going there, why would him and Leia choose to meet there?'

I check the coordinates of the spot that Luke had landed. Sure enough, it is the same spot that _it_ happened. The spot where I made the biggest mistake of my life. The spot where I took my children's mother away from them.

'How could they know?' Could Leia's nightmare have told her the location? The small glimpse I had of her nightmare didn't give away too much information.

The nightmare. That is one mystery I would much like solved. At first I thought Leia had inherited them from me. But the force signature wasn't the same. My nightmares had always come from me, Leia's seemed to be sent to her from some outside source. It must have been some Jedi trying to mess with her head, maybe the same one Luke and I felt on Tatooine.

As I get closer to Mustafar, I try to mentally prepare myself for my confrontation with Leia and now Luke. I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do.

But why do I have a feeling that I won't have the time?

Luke's POV

I'm in a daze as I land my ship. I still can't wrap my head around the idea of my mother being alive, even after talking to her, it doesn't seem possible.

When Leia had first told me of Mother's survival, I had almost hoped that I could convince Mother to return. But after our conversation, I knew that wasn't going to happen. Mother is set in the way of the Old Republic, she would never join the Empire, even if she could run it.

I'm not exactly nervous about our meeting, as much as I am curious. Hopefully it will go well, but there is no guarantee. As much as I would like to think of my mother as the perfection father used to describe her as, the truth is I don't know her. I don't know what she is like.

When Leia and I discussed where to meet up, we wanted somewhere neutral. We didn't want to have the Empire or the Rebellion around because we didn't want their influence on whatever we discuss. I knew about this abandoned base because of a report I read that some storm trooper submitted. Father had closed down this base a short while after the Empire had started, and now it isn't used anymore. A few years ago it was discovered that a few pirates had been using the base as storage for some illegal spice, hence the report. Stormtroopers cleaned them out and the base hasn't been touched since. I had mentioned it to Leia before, then she suggested using it for this.

As I turn off my engine, a strange feeling comes over me. It is hard to explain, but something feels like it's trying to tell me something. The feeling makes me hesitate before opening my door to get out of my ship. I try not to pay it much mind, but it is so overwhelming and is hard to ignore. Whatever this feeling is, it is screaming at me.

Something's telling me that once I get off this ship, everything will change. But not change in a way I expect.

Leia's POV

Eventually Han and I fall asleep on the couch. We wake up the next morning to Chewie yodeling at us to get a room. We both get up into sitting positions on the couch and I swear I hear Han say, "Damn Wookiee."

The rest of the day goes by pretty smoothly. The four of us have breakfast and play a few games of chess and cards. Mom makes us some type of stew for lunch that is apparently popular amongst the Rebel Alliance on Hoth. It wasn't the best and I'm pretty sure I saw Chewie throw his and Han's out a window when mom wasn't looking. Jerks.

Around dinner (which I volunteer to cook much to the joy of Han and Chewie), Luke messages me saying that he will arrive in an hour. The moment the message arrives the feeling I've had the entire day strengthens.

All day I've had a strange feeling not to look or go outside. Every time I've debated exiting the ship to look around, this sense stops me at the door. A sense that is telling me that I don't want to see what is out there. Something big is waiting for me.

As Han, Chewie, mom and I have dinner, the sense grows. Eventually an hour passes and I hear Luke's ship arrive. The feeling is stronger than ever.

"Well, how about we go greet the kid." Han says.

Mom agrees eagerly and the three get up and walk to the door. I stay at the table looking at my empty plate.

"Coming Princess?" I hear Han ask.

I look up and see him and Chewie staring back confused. Mom is looking between me and the door with a worried expression.

I nod and get up from my seat. Every sense in my body is screaming at me not to walk off the ship. This continues until we reach the exit ramp. Then the feeling is replaced by a new one.

This new feeling is a calming yet frightening one. It's telling me that once I exit off this ship, my life will change. Stepping off of this ship is stepping through the threshold into the next stage of my life. It's not a bad feeling, but a scary one. Knowing that in a second, my entire life will be different. I don't know how I know this is true, but I do.

Han lets down the exit ramp. As it lowers, the heat from the planets volcanoes hits all of us. The air feels different, like it is filled with anticipation for what is about to happen.

Han, Chewie, and mom exit walk down the ramp. I hesitate, but eventually follow them, looking down at my feet the entire way. It isn't until I reach the bottom that I look up at my surroundings.

The moment I do, something clicks. I recognize the volcanic mountains, the ship landing, and the base. The senses I've had all day release and I'm left standing in my nightmare feeling like I'm falling into the past and future at the same time and there is no way to stop.


End file.
